Ho follows the memoir Raised by Wolves with a novel that tracks a mismatched relationship between Amy Chan, a late-20s queer, non-binary Asian artist working precarious casual jobs, and Edward Smith, a 45-year-old self-described CEO whose interests include "Billy Joel, champagne, steak night at the pub and the odd cigar". The story opens in marriage counselling and then rewinds to how the pair got together, the title doing much of the explanatory work.
The primary relationship plays out in cool, transactional scenes with fleeting flashes of tenderness. Edward is presented as casually racist, misgenders Amy and drinks too much, while Amy is blunt, righteous and confrontational. Ho repeatedly stages moments of moral standing and resistance, but several opponents are drawn so broadly they read as cartoonish, and Amy's defiance sometimes resembles a textbook of social justice rather than lived complexity.
Ho interrogates status across Amy's wider circle. Art-school peers branded with names like Chaos and Samdrogyny turn out to be private school kids living off the Bank of Mum and Dad, a contrast that pins Amy as an outsider, "judged for not being white, not being rich or not being 'trans enough'". A formative relationship with Catherine Swell, an art teacher, grants Amy access to painting lessons, therapy and art-world connections, and provides the clearest emotional counterpoint in the book.
Where the prose is most vital is in scenes of food, unsurprising given Ho's background in food writing and restaurants. Meals become a shorthand for cultural and class friction: brisket noodles, stuffed fried bean curd skins, stewed meats and braised chicken feet appear alongside Amy's habit of pairing champagne with french fries. Those details sustain the novel when the plot goes awry; even the bland dishes at Edward's parents' table are telling, an "overcooked, underseasoned" chicken described as "the size of a chihuahua" that signals social mismatch.
The novel stumbles when Amy's agency is muted at pivotal moments, notably when Edward abruptly whisks them to Singapore and Hong Kong. Brief scenes touching on the 2019 Hong Kong protests gesture toward broader tensions but are never fully integrated. As the narrative zigzags, events grow more random and outlandish, sometimes skirting parody without the sting required for sharp satire. Despite well-meaning politics and occasional acuity, People With Money finishes as an uneven effort, overcooked and underseasoned. The novel is out now from Affirm Press, priced $34.99.
