Susan Choi's 'Flashlight' Available for Pre-Order
Pulitzer Prize finalist Susan Choi's new literary novel *Flashlight* is now available for pre-order, centering on ten-year-old Louisa who must navigate family trauma after her father's mysterious disappearance during a summer in coastal Japan. The narrative promises a blend of intimate family drama and cross-cultural exploration with Choi's signature psychological insight. The novel represents a noteworthy addition to 2026's literary fiction landscape for readers interested in emotionally resonant, character-driven stories.
Susan Choi's 2019 novel *Trust Exercise* won the National Book Award for Fiction. That work explored the complexities of memory and power dynamics within a 1980s performing arts high school, a narrative that shifts perspectives and challenges the reader's understanding of truth. Her earlier novel, *American Woman*, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2004. This book was a fictionalized account of the Patty Hearst kidnapping, showcasing Choi's interest in blending historical events with deep psychological exploration. Choi often explores themes of identity, paranoia, and the intersection of the personal and the political. Her 2008 novel, *A Person of Interest*, for example, centered on an Asian American math professor who comes under suspicion as a domestic terrorist, drawing inspiration from the Unabomber case and the Wen Ho Lee investigation. The genesis of *Flashlight* was a short story of the same name published in *The New Yorker* in 2020. That story went on to win the prestigious Sunday Times Short Story Award in 2021 before being developed into the full novel. The novel's setting in coastal Japan is deeply personal for Choi, who is the daughter of a Korean father and a Jewish American mother. She has described a disruptive childhood trip to Japan as a significant, formative experience that she explores in *Flashlight*. Even before its official publication, *Flashlight* has garnered significant critical acclaim, securing a nomination on the shortlist for the 2025 Booker Prize.
