[1] Khong began writing the novel in December 2016, shortly after the 2016 United States presidential election and before the release of her 2017 debut, Goodbye Vitamin.

The first part takes place in New York City in 1999, following the character Lily Chen during her internship and subsequent romance with a rich man named Matthew Allen.

Covering over eight decades, the novel includes and addresses historical events like the turbulence of Maoist China, the September 11 attacks, and the legal battle over affirmative action in the United States.

"[4] Critics in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Star Tribune, and NPR appreciated Khong's speculative, imaginative approach to questions of wealth inequality, genetic research, ethics of technology, Chinese American lineage.

[10] In comparison to Khong's first novel which was "slim and focused on a single point of view", Alta Journal remarked that her second novel was "sprawling, employing three narrators and spanning decades.