Leung to read Orion audiobook of Li’s film industry thriller

Actor Katie Leung will read the audio version of Winnie M Li’s upcoming suspense novel Complicit, to be released alongside the hardback on 23rd June 2022.

The #MeToo-inspired novel was pre-empted by Orion Fiction publishing director Francesca Pathak in a 48-hour six-figure acquisition from Robert Caskie.

The synopsis of the novel, which tells the story of Sarah Lai, a film lecturer at a New York college, reads: “When she is approached by a top journalist who wants to interview her about a movie producer she worked with when she was in her 20s, she knows that now is the time to tell her story. But as she looks back to her time as an aspiring young producer, she is forced to confront what she did and didn’t do, what she could and couldn’t control, and ultimately how complicit she was in what was going on around her."

Leung said she was “so honoured” to voice the audiobook of Complicit, praising the novel for providing “an important insight into the power structures of an industry that has been left unchallenged for too long”.

Li said it was a dream come true to have Leung voice the book, adding: “While she might be known to the world as Harry Potter’s first crush, I’ve long admired Katie’s work on stage and screen, in a range of performances that ring through with empathy, humour and undeniable talent. 

“East Asian women are so rarely seen in leading roles, that I’m thrilled Katie will bring to life the many characters of Complicit — and in particular, the protagonist Sarah Lai, a young woman navigating the daunting, morally complex world of the film industry.”