Underspin

''An electric debut'' Jenny Tinghui Zhang, author of Four Treasures of the Sky ''Zhao''s prose is a marvel'' Rob Franklin, author of Great Black Hope Ryan Lo begins playing table tennis at age eight. His brilliant but ruthless coach sees a talent in him that might be nurtured into greatness. Through an adolescence marked by hours of practice, matches away from home, clandestine relationships and a determination to win, Ryan ascends to the highest echelons of the game, just as he was supposed to. But here he is now, dead before his twenty-fifth birthday, leaving grief and confusion in his wake. Ryan Lo was meant to be great. What happened? Underspin delves beneath the pressure that forges a champion, and the vulnerability that makes a coming of age: the crackling intensity of a match, the push and pull of first love, and the great injustices committed within our closest relationships. ''An unconventional and stylish portrait of a table tennis wunderkind . . . this book will immerse you in its high-stakes world until the very last page'' Alina Grabowski, author of Women and Children First

About the author

E Y Zhao is a writer from St. Louis, Missouri. Her work appears in The Georgia Review, Electric Lit, and Chicago Review of Books, among others. She edits fiction for Joyland Magazine.

Product details

• Authors: E Y Zhao
• Publisher: Doubleday
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 05.03.2026
• EAN: 9781529961478
• ISBN: 978-1-5299-6147-8
• No. of pages: 272
• Dimensions: 138 mm x 222 mm x 25 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; FICTION / Coming of Age, FICTION / Sports, Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945), FICTION / Literary, Narrative theme: Death, grief, loss, Narrative theme: Identity / belonging, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Table tennis, FICTION / Own Voices, Modern and contemporary fiction: general and literary