For almost a decade in the Anglophone world, comment on the unravelling of reality has become commonplace. See Brexit, Trump 1.0 and 2.0, pandemic, Trump 2024-, the surge in domestic terrorism, internet addiction, AI hallucination, and so on. “Post-truth” has, arguably, arrived hand-in-hand with state violence and social decay. Those who feel we have all literally or figuratively slipped onto the “wrong timeline” may think of their own familiar televisions as Tse describes a news anchor appearing onscreen with her usual smile absent, and instead of announcing the news: weeping.

When Tse finished writing City Like Water, it was 2020, the year after Hong Kong’s massive protests and the subsequent crackdown. City Like Water will arrive in publication in English translation at a time when the world is growing weirder still. Darker still. Chaos is deepening, and hope is a slippery fish. Now is a good time for a City Like Water.