A glittering bold darkly funny novel about two sisters—one in New York one in Singapore—who
are bound by an ancient secret Sisterhood is difficult for Su and Emerald. Su leads a sheltered
moneyed life as the picture-perfect wife of a conservative politician in Singapore. Emerald is
a nihilistic sugar baby in New York living from whim to whim and using her charms to make ends
meet. But they share a secret: once they were snakes basking under a full moon in Tang
dynasty China. A thousand years later their mysterious history is the only thing still binding
them together. When Emerald experiences a violent encounter in Central Park and Su boards the
next flight to New York the two reach a tenuous reconciliation for the first time in decades.
Su convinces Emerald to move to Singapore so she can keep an eye on her—but she soon begins to
worry that Emerald’s irrepressible behavior will out them both in a sparkling affluent city
where everything runs like clockwork and any deviation from the norm is automatically suspect.
Razor-sharp hilarious and raw in emotion Sister Snake explores chosen family queerness
passing and the struggle against conformity. Reimagining the Chinese folktale “The Legend of
the White Snake ” this is a novel about being seen for who you are—and ultimately how to live
free.
