Jean Chen Ho’s writing has been published in The Georgia Review, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Guernica, The Rumpus, Apogee, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and others. She is a doctoral candidate in creative writing and literature at the University of Southern California, where she is a Dornsife fellow in fiction. She was born in Taiwan and grew up in Southern California. In Ho’s debut collection Fiona and Jane (Viking), the title characters have been best friends since second grade. They’ve explored the lonely freeways and seedy bars of Los Angeles together through their teenage years, survived unfulfilling romantic encounters, and carry the scars of their families’ tumultuous pasts. Then Fiona moves to New York, leaving Jane behind in California. Over time the women float in and out of each other’s lives. Strained by distance and unintended betrayals, their friendship is a beacon of hope and a reminder of all they’ve lost. In stories told in alternating voices, Fiona and Jane peels back the layers of female friendship, probing the hearts of young women coming to terms with themselves and each other.
