Kaitlin Solimine thought her future would be in international business — until a high-school Mandarin class changed the course of her life. Two decades later, this former exchange student, East Asian Studies major, Harvard-Yenching scholar and U.S. Department of State Fulbright Creative Arts Fellow considers China her “second home.” Her first novel, Empire of Glass, is the culmination of this lifelong interest and has been shortlisted for the 2017 Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. This week, Kaitlin joins the GrottoPod this week to discuss the genesis of her novel, her brush with the C.I.A. and the challenges of taking a toddler on book tour.