Edge Case: A Novel

One day, Edwina returns home from work to find that her husband Marlin is gone. Things have been rocky in their relationship lately, and Marlin has taken up some odd and uncharacteristic interests, but Edwina isn’t sure why Marlin has decided to leave. She and Marlin are both immigrants from Malaysia working to get their green cards, and she’s not sure if he’s returned to Malaysia, has just tired of their relationship, or has succumbed to some more sinister fate. Edge Case follows Edwina as she tries to find Marlin and figure out what happened to their relationship—and what will happen to it going forward.

Given her complicated relationship with her mother and her coworker, things are rarely easy for Edwina, and her voice as a narrator is sad and quiet, though tinged with humor here and there. YZ Chin successfully weaves between moments in the past and the present as she tells Edwina’s story, one that is rich with reflections on identity, marriage, immigration, and family.