Immaculate Conception - by Ling Ling Huang (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Enka meets Mathilde in art school. Mathilde is a dizzyingly talented yet tortured artist whose star is on the rise--and Enka, struggling to make art that feels original, is immediately drawn to her. The two strike up a close friendship that soon turns codependent. But when Mathilde's fame reaches new heights, Enka becomes desperate to keep her best friend close--no matter the cost. [She] quickly falls in love with and marries a billionaire whose family's company is funding a cutting-edge technology purported to enhance empathy, and which could allow someone else to inhabit Mathilde's mind and absorb the trauma from her brain. Soon, the boundaries between Mathilde and Enka begin to blur even further, setting in motion a haunting series of events that forever [changes] their lives"--

Book Synopsis

"A superb work of fiction."--New York Times Book Review

What if you could enter the mind of the person you love the most?

Enka meets Mathilde in art school and is instantly drawn to her. Mathilde makes art that feels truly original, and Enka--trying hard to prove herself in this fiercely competitive world--pours everything into their friendship. But when Mathilde's fame and success cause her to begin drifting away, Enka becomes desperate to keep her close.

Enter SCAFFOLD. Purported to enhance empathy, this cutting-edge technology could allow Enka to inhabit Mathilde's mind and access her memories, artistic inspirations, and deep-seated trauma. Undergoing this procedure would link Enka and Mathilde forever. But at what cost?

Blisteringly smart, thought-provoking, and shocking, Immaculate Conception offers us a portrait of close friendship--achingly tender and twisted--that captures the tenuous line between love and possession that will haunt you long after you turn the final page.

Review Quotes

Winner of the Oregon Book Award's Ken Kesey Award for Fiction

Good Housekeeping Book Club pick for May 2025
Aadvark Book Club pick for May 2025
One of Elle's Best Fantasy and Science-Fiction Books of 2025
One of Vogue's "13 Feminist Books That Deserve a Place on Your Nightstand"

Named a Most Anticipated Title by Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Bustle, Betches, Reader's Digest, Ms. Magazine, Library Journal, Book Riot, The Nerd Daily, Gold House, Mochi Magazine, Women.com, Read or Dead, She Reads, and Bookish

"Huang's Immaculate Conception is unlike anything else I've read this year...timely in the way it looks at power, fame and 'the industry of art' and at how A.I. affects art; and its exploration of the way trauma shapes us is emotionally resonant. It is a messy, heartfelt love letter to art, and a superb work of fiction."
--New York Times Book Review

"Capturing the unique competition between ambitious girlfriends--and the vulnerability it reveals--the novel nails the utter confusion and bewilderment of outgrowing a friendship. Tender, though not without turns of the knife, Immaculate Conception showcases jealousy, admiration, and obsession volleyed between girlfriends."
--Marie Claire

"A complex and sobering work of dystopian science-fiction, infused with horror and set in the contemporary art scene, Immaculate Conception is as much about the blurred lines of friendship as it is the frayed boundaries between art and technology. (I saw multiple Goodreads reviewers describing Immaculate Conception as Yellowface meets Black Mirror, and the similarities are indeed strong) . . . Immaculate Conception asks sweeping questions about art, originality, and ownership, as well as trauma, co-dependency, and love. Huang's latest is a hit."
--ELLE, "The Best Fantasy and Science-Fiction Books of 2025"

"Huang's debut novel won a Lambda Literary Award, and her follow-up did not disappoint. The literary novel explores female friendship and rivalry, the intersection of art and technology, and jealousy. It was both beautifully written and deeply disturbing, the type of book that sticks with you long after you close it."
--Katie Couric Media, "The Best Books of 2025"

"Immaculate Conception 100% lived up to the hype . . . [It] is a novel that isn't just read. It is experienced. And you absolutely should experience it. If you love stories about female friendships, narrators with questionable morals, satirical send-ups of elitist art culture, and disturbing sci-fi, you won't be able to put this book down."
--Book Riot

"This dizzying speculative fiction tackles AI, art, and toxic female friendship in a whirl of obsession and jealousy."
--Good Housekeeping, Best Books of the Year

"An exploration of art in the digital age, a narrative about the contrasts between those who have and those who don't, a deep look at the world of art in a near future where most art is derivative or irrelevant, and a science-fiction tale of grief and friendship, this is a nuanced, complex novel [that] soars thanks to its author's unflinching approach to discussing creation, originality and the volatile world of art.
--NPR, Books We Love

"Through these rich characters, Ling Ling Huang raises important questions about not only the boundaries between art and tech but also the blurred lines between originality, autonomy, and possession."
--Harper's Bazaar, "Best Books of Spring"

"A complex and sobering work of dystopian science-fiction, infused with horror and set in the contemporary art scene, Immaculate Conception is as much about the blurred lines of friendship as it is the frayed boundaries between art and technology...Immaculate Conception asks sweeping questions about art, originality, and ownership, as well as trauma, co-dependency, and love. Huang's latest is a hit."
--Elle, "Best Books of Spring 2025"

"Tackling class, technology, and the fetishization of the artist, Huang pokes and prods at the patriarchal structures that often render female friendship exhausting, if not untenable. More tenderly, she wonders why we continue to love those who hurt us, and at what point that love morphs into something more gruesome."
--Emily Leibert, The Cut

"This dark and gripping novel explores the complexities of art, identity, and the dangerous extremes of intimacy, asking what it truly means to love someone and what we're willing to sacrifice to feel connected."
--Buzzfeed

"This dizzying speculative novel tackles AI, art and toxic female friendship in a whirl of ambition and jealousy."
--Good Housekeeping

"A good friend is hard to find, but how close is too close? Ling Ling Huang's Immaculate Conception details the unsettling unraveling of a codependent friendship between two artists... This explosive new book release explores themes of jealousy, greed, classism and toxic female friendships in a modern dystopia."
--Reader's Digest, "Most-Anticipated New Book Releases of 2025"

"Any artists freaked out by generative AI, virtual reality, and the general future of creativity in a technocracy will have fun inside Ling Ling Huang's near-future version of the competitive art world... she grounds her imaginative narrative in the raw feeling of envying a friend who's more successful and wanting to do crazy things to absorb whatever special touch they have. As the dedication reads, this book is 'for the jealous.'"
--Bustle, "The Best New Books of Spring 2025"

"Philosophical, nuanced, and engrossing... One of the most uniquely captivating and sustained interrogations of artistry and technology--and the transformative conversations between the two--that I've read this year."
--Locus

"A heady novel that's as formally daring as [Huang's] debut. Foregrounding fraught friendship and intrusive innovation, Immaculate Conception poses what might happen when empathy becomes a science."
--Women.com

"Brilliant and unsettling . . . Driven by Huang's compelling, flowing prose, the novel is an examination of a friendship that turns toxic in the most terrifying way. Huang is a master of mixing the speculative with the contemporary, harnessing near-future possibilities to show us just how far humanity will go to achieve the impossible while ignoring very real consequences."
--Booklist (starred review)

"A frightening, enlightening powerhouse of a book."
--BookPage (starred review)

"A dazzlingly ambitious feat of storytelling . . . Huang's style is as captivating and distinctive as the story itself, with incisive prose that is alternately evocative, funny, and caustic . . . Immaculate Conception is a virtuosic work beaming the spectrum of human emotions through a prism of indifferent technology."
--Shelf Awareness

"Huang writes evocatively of Enka's waxing and waning jealousy of Mathilde, which comes at the expense of developing her own artistic voice. This bracing novel gives readers plenty to chew on."
--Publishers Weekly

"Immaculate Conception is one of those twisty, nail-biting books you fall into and don't emerge from until you're done. I loved it."
--Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love

"In Huang's Immaculate Conception, the desire to be close to the flame of genius leads to catastrophic obsession. Huang, the real-life genius holding the palette, deftly weaves competition, longing, fantastical technology, and gobsmacking imagery into an unforgettable tale. I found this portrait of artist friends utterly gripping: an immersive, transformative read, just the way true art should be."
--Sierra Greer, author of Annie Bot

"In Ling Ling Huang's Immaculate Conception, all-too-plausible exploitative, extractive technologies force new questions about who is allowed to make great art and who gets denied the same shot--and about what price some might pay to reclaim what they've been denied. A gorgeous and frequently shocking novel, whose dark, envy-driven obsessions will quickly become your own."
--Matt Bell, author of Appleseed

"Huang's brilliant, imaginative, and ambitious novel about an obsessive friendship between two artists gripped me from beginning to end. Immaculate Conception is dark but, at the same time, filled with tenderness. I loved every moment of it."
--Monika Kim, author of The Eyes Are the Best Part

About the Author

Ling Ling Huang is a writer and violinist. She plays with several ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, and the Experiential Orchestra, with whom she won a Grammy Award in 2021. Her debut novel, Natural Beauty, was a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, a New York Times Editors' Choice, and winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction.