It's here! Browse the 2024 Penguin Christmas gift guide
This Place is Still Beautiful

This Place is Still Beautiful

Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Two sisters. A shocking racist incident. The summer that will change both of their lives forever.


Annalie and Margaret are sisters who agree on only one thing: that they have nothing in common.

Annalie is seventeen: sweet, content, and looking forward to a summer of flirting with the most popular boy in school.

Margaret is nineteen: ambitious, a warrior for social justice, and desperate to forget her ex-boyfriend in New York City.

When their family is the victim of a racial attack, Annalie tries to pretend it never happened - but Margaret wants to fight back. Suddenly their relationship - and all the ones around them - are hanging by a thread. And then a crushing secret threatens to tear them apart forever . . .

A beautiful and powerful story about family, identity and the secrets we keep, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas, Nicola Yoon, and Adam Silvera.

© XiXi Tian 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

Reviews

  • Tender and lovely, This Place is Still Beautiful tells the story of a family forced to face their town - and each other - in the wake of a crime that can't be ignored. XiXi Tian is an exciting new voice in YA, and this moving debut is not to be missed.
    Nina LaCour, author of We Are Okay and Watch Over Me

About the author

XiXi Tian

Yuxi 'XiXi' Tian is an attorney at Google by day and a writer by night. She emigrated from China when she was a year old, and grew up in Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, on which Margaret and Annalie's town is based. Before working at Google, Yuxi attended Harvard Law School, and for a brief period dabbled with the idea of becoming a literary agent. She now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and cat.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more