A famous Chinese performance artist and political activist accepts an artist's residency in Los Angeles, where he is to stay with a wealthy Beverly Hills family. From the moment he arrives, however, it becomes clear that all is not what it seems -- on either side. The dissident seems strangely reluctant to talk about his past, and is happier teaching than working on projects of his own; his hosts appear -- on the surface at least -- to be a happy, nuclear family, yet their relationships are, in fact, fraught with rivalries and tensions.

Set in Los Angeles and Beijing, The Dissident tells the story of a life in flux and a family near breaking point -- and what happens when the two collide.

'Nell Freudenberger is awesomely skilled at making characters, setting scenes, and launching an old-fashioned plot suited to the 21st century. These tremendous novelistic powers would justify some showing off, but Freudenberger never flaunts her gifts. She merely puts them to use. Such mature, self-effacing accomplishment is remarkable anywhere -- but in a first novel? Try suspending that disbelief' Benjamin Kunkel, author of Indecision