Gingko Season

A Novel

By: Naomi Xu Elegant

Narrated by: Cindy Kay

For fans of Elif Batuman and Sally Rooney, a beguiling debut novel about finding oneself after heartbreak.

After suffering her first big heartbreak two years earlier, Penelope Lin has built a quiet life with no romantic entanglements. She spends her days cataloging a museum's vast collection of Qing Dynasty bound-foot shoes and in the comfortable company of close friends. One day, she happens to meet Hoang, who confesses to releasing mice from the cancer research lab where he works. Hoang's openness catches Penelope off guard; from then on, she finds her carefully constructed life slowly start to unravel. Told in Penelope's witty, vulnerable, and thoroughly endearing voice, Gingko Season captures three seasons of reawakening, challenges, and transformation.

This wise and tenderhearted novel explores the nature of our deepest friendships as seriously as it does the dizzying terror and thrill of falling in love, and the complications of trying to live a life that matches your ideals.

©2025 Naomi Xu Elegant (P)2025 Tantor Media

Was there a point?

I found the female characters wholly unlikable. The male characters were more interesting but they were voiced in annoying monotone