Introduction

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

“A con artist story, a pop-feminist caper, a fashionable romp . . . Counterfeit is an entertaining, luxurious read—but beneath its glitz and flash, it is also a shrewd deconstruction of the American dream and the myth of the model minority. . . . Chen is up to something innovative and subversive here." — Camille Perri, NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Recommended by New York Times Book Review• Washington Post •People• Entertainment Weekly• USA Today• Time•Cosmopolitan•Today show • Harper’s Bazaar• Vogue•Good Housekeeping•Parade•New York Post • Town & Country• GMA.com • Buzzfeed • Goodreads • Oprah Daily • Popsugar • Bustle • theSkimm • The Millions • and more!

For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the story of two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise—an incisive and glittering blend of fashion, crime, and friendship from the author of Bury What We Cannot Take and Soy Sauce for Beginners.

Money can’t buy happiness… but it can buy a decent fake.

Ava Wong has always played it safe. As a strait-laced, rule-abiding Chinese American lawyer with a successful surgeon as a husband, a young son, and a beautiful home—she’s built the perfect life. But beneath this façade, Ava’s world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn’t been used in years, and her toddler’s tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point.

Enter Winnie Fang, Ava’s enigmatic college roommate from Mainland China, who abruptly dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Now, twenty years later, Winnie is looking to reconnect with her old friend. But the shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, including a coveted Birkin in classic orange. The secret to her success? Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U.S. passport to help manage her business—someone who’d never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes once again, Ava is left to face the consequences.

Swift, surprising, and sharply comic, Counterfeit is a stylish and feminist caper with a strong point of view and an axe to grind. Peering behind the curtain of the upscale designer storefronts and the Chinese factories where luxury goods are produced, Kirstin Chen interrogates the myth of the model minority through two unforgettable women determined to demand more from life.

"If you appreciate a good caper, you’ll want to pick up Kirstin Chen’s novel . . . Fast-paced and fun, with smart commentary on the cultural differences between Asia and America." — TIME

“Propulsive and captivating . . . A provocative story of fashion, friendship, and fakes (in more ways than one).” — VOGUE

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Discussion Questions

1. Before reading COUNTERFEIT, how much knowledge did you have about how the handbag manufacturing business operated? Has this book illuminated the specifics of the industry in any surprising ways?

2. Although we never see or hear from the detective Ava is confessing to directly, were you able to grasp any character attributes about this person? Did you feel, as the reader, that you were being invited to be the arbiter of legitimacy in Ava’s story?

3. Consider the emphasis on branding in fashion. Do you find that luxury brands are always synonymous with quality? Are you loyal to any brands? If so, why?

4. What do you think a strong friendship requires? Are Winnie and Ava good friends for each other? How did you initially interpret their relationship, and how did your impression change as the novel progressed?

5. Winnie and Ava discuss the labor conditions in brand name factories. Do consumers have a responsibility to ensure the ethical production of products they purchase? Do you think most consumers care?

6. How do Winnie and Ava contend with the model minority stereotype that exists for the AAPI community in the United States? How do they take advantage of it?

7. How did your impression of Boss Mak shift over the course of the novel? How do you perceive his relationship with Winnie? Did you feel any sympathy for him at any point?

8. Did you see the main twist in the novel coming? How did your understanding of the story change after the reveal?

9. After the events of the novel, how do you see Ava’s and Winnie’s lives progressing? Have they been irrevocably changed by their experiences within these pages?

10. Does the title of the novel, COUNTERFEIT, refer to more than just knockoff handbags? What else could the title pertain to?

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