Underspin

Brought to you by Penguin. 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. ' ‘ Challengers , but make it table tennis' Lit Hub , 'Most Anticipated Books of 2025' 'An eruption of a debut . . . with meticulous precision and tremendous heart' Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, author of Chain-Gang All-Stars 'A superior force to be reckoned with' Neel Mukherjee, author of The Lives of Others and Choice 'A kaleidoscopic novel . . . Zhao's prose is a marvel' Rob Franklin, author of Great Black Hope © E Y Zhao 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026