Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar

Heartbreak. Cancer. And a Tumor Named Maggie.

A woman walks into a restaurant expecting a quiet night and too many samosas. What she gets instead is a confession—her husband is having an affair with a woman named Maggie.

Soon after, she feels a sharp pain in her chest. It isn’t just heartbreak—it’s cancer. So she names the tumor Maggie, too.

Told in sharp, fragmented vignettes, Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar follows one woman’s surreal and tender journey through betrayal, illness, and self-reclamation. She speaks to Maggie, writes a user manual for her ex-husband (for the other Maggie’s benefit), and reimagines Chinese folklore as bedtime stories for her children—attempting to pass on the culture that shaped her, while trying to rediscover the parts of herself she thought were lost.

Wry, intimate, and fiercely original, this novel echoes the wit of Nora Ephron and the emotional depth of Jenny Offill, transforming personal tragedy into a meditation on resilience, motherhood, and the messy art of starting over.