“Beneath the quiet, perfectly rendered surfaces of Transparency beats a heart of purest mayhem. An elegant and fierce collection.”

—Kevin Canty, author of The Underworld

“There are many things that keep people apart, separating them from themselves and from others. It could be a cultural divide or a generational chasm. More often, though, it is the little things, the ordinary things—our individual quirks—that create distance. Frances Hwang seems to know all this instinctively. ‘Transparency,’ her first collection of short stories, confronts these issues with a fierce honesty. There is nothing remotely sentimental about the tales presented here.”

—June Sawyers, San Francisco Chronicle

“A devastating exploration of alienated lives, Hwang’s stories are lean, beautiful, and unflinching. Compulsively readable, uncommonly wise.”

—Liza Ward, author of Outside Valentine

“Several stories resonate with youthful pangs of heartache and rebellion: ‘Blue Hour’ finds a group of mid-20s friends unsure how to behave among themselves on a New Year's Eve trek into New York City, while ‘Sonata for the Left Hand’ delineates a young woman's disappointing love affair with an exciting, coldhearted fellow teacher at an upstate New York boarding school. More panorama than thematic set, Hwang's debut is brisk and direct.”

—Publishers Weekly

“[A] thoughtful work conveying universal concerns.”

—Shirley Quan, Library Journal

"[Hwang’s] prose is direct, intent on clarity, and her voice is quiet and precise….This is a splendid collection and an exemplary display of how to write short fiction with strength disguised as delicacy."

—Bob Williams, Compulsive Reader