Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

June Hayward, an unsuccessful young author, finds herself the only witness to the death of her former classmate and casual friend, Athena Liu, a Chinese-American author who is an industry darling. She decides to position herself as the best friend of the author and begins to edit and re-write Athena's latest unpublished manuscript, a novel about Chinese laborers in World War I.

As she changes more and more of the draft, June begins to feel ownership over the novel and decides to publish it as her original work. June submits the manuscript and is immediately welcomed by publishers and offered a large advance. To avoid controversy, she publishes the book under an Asian-sounding name (Juniper Song, her full first name and middle name) and takes author photos where she appears racially ambiguous. Despite efforts to present herself as Asian, controversy surrounds the success of the novel, and June repeatedly fends off accusations of cultural appropriation and plagiarism on Twitter.