--- --- Nov 09, 2020 # Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  [Kevin Kwan](https://time.com/5859487/kevin-kwan-sex-and-vanity/ "undefined")’s latest characters are still crazy rich, but in his first novel outside of his [international bestselling trilogy](https://time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/5238169/kevin-kwan/ "undefined"), his heroine, Lucie Tang Churchill, is torn between two identities embodied by her two suitors: the handsome Chinese Australian surfer George Zao, whom she meets, automatically hates and is caught making out with at an absurdly ritzy wedding; and Cecil Pike, the desirably high-society WASP she’s engaged to years later, when George appears again at a most unwelcome time. Distilled through Kwan’s sharp wit and modeled after E. M. Forster’s 1908 novel A Room With a View, Sex and Vanity pillories not Edwardian England but “billennials”—that is, billionaire millennials—as Lucie finds that while money can sure buy a ring “the size of a rhino’s testicle,” it can’t buy a sense of self. **Buy Now:** _Sex and Vanity_ on [Bookshop](https://bookshop.org/a/4973/9780385546270 "undefined") | [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385546270/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time-books-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0385546270&linkId=044fa054d4b2658b866bd9f3d89893f3 "undefined") These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser. 'Sex and Vanity' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904279/sex-and-vanity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904279/sex-and-vanity/"},"headline":"'Sex and Vanity' is on @TIME's list of the 100 must-read books of 2020","datePublished":"2020-11-09T20:10:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:44:37.514Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904279/sex-and-vanity/","keywords":["E-Commerce","Books","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81d45f7c55a0e1bb/698a140d929fadaf97bf6bec/best-books-2020-Sex-and-Vanity.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81d45f7c55a0e1bb/698a140d929fadaf97bf6bec/best-books-2020-Sex-and-Vanity.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/must-read-books-2020/5904279/sex-and-vanity/","name":"'Sex and Vanity' is on @TIME's list of the 100 must-read books of 2020"}}]}] ```