Book of Exemplary Women
Praise
“Diana Xin’s debut story collection, Book of Exemplary Women, brings the pleasure of discovering a new voice—a fresh and original voice. One hears it immediately in the intonation of her witty, economical prose. These unpredictable, imaginative stories have to keep up with the fleet pacing with which they are told. And they do. There’s a lightness to the touch that makes the emotional charge of each story still more deeply satisfying. And there’s a sense of intimacy to the telling, an inner voice that shares the secrets over which inner voices preside.”
—Stuart Dybek, author of Childhood and Other Neighborhoods and The Coast of Chicago
“Through the rituals of faith, illness, and death, and the affections of ghosts, vampires, and disappointing men, the girls and women of Book of Exemplary Women view the world with narrowed eyes, cool and shrewd and knowing, pushing against expectation, questioning what they are supposed to want and who they are supposed to be. Diana Xin writes with quiet intensity, emotional acuity, and impressive range, as though we are peering into a dozen kitchen windows and catching our neighbors at their most intimate, soul-baring, and true.”
—Kim Fu, author of Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century and The Valley of Vengeful Ghosts
“In Book of Exemplary Women, writer Diana Xin takes a lyrical paring knife to the fruit of girlhood and womanhood, peeling back the flesh to reveal our radiant tenderness and sinew. From girlhood to ghosthood, the frothing, cascading lives in these stories ferry the reader to and from faith, to and from China, and to and from what forms, what breaks, and what heals the feminine self. Xin is a writer of exceptional range and depth, and this funny, moving, terrific story collection is a gift for us all.”
—Sharma Shields, author of The Cassandra and The Sasquatch Hunter’s Almanac
Press and Reviews
The Stranger:
The Five Best Underread PNW Authors of 2025
“A must-read if you’ve struggled with faith or sleeping through the night, or longed for a series of examples of what exemplary women do under ancient and daily pressures.”
Chicago Review of Books:
The Desires of Exemplary Women: A Conversation with Diana Xin
“…an exemplary collection examining regret, desire, sex, death, and belief with a depth of curation that belies the fact it’s a debut.”
Chum News:
Dining and Writing: Diana Xin
“The twelve tales therein have ample thematic and stylistic range, partially because they span the length of Xin’s adult writing career, but more so because of her refined empathetic impulse and slight penchant for raunch.”
The Masters Review:
Book Review
“While the shallowness and vindictiveness that can fill religious communities are on sharply observed display here, our women can’t help feeling a certain hunger, perhaps not for the type of worship on offer itself, but for belief. They yearn to believe in something, because belief is a type of belonging.”