✪ 2021 Taipei Literature Award
✪ 2023 Kingstone Bookstore Rising Star Award

“Huang Cheng would be the dream role for every actress.” -- Wen Tien-Hsiang , CEO of Golden Horse Film Festival

Huang Cheng grows up with her elder sister Qian, who is twelve years older, as the only role model. Cheng feels she's always shadowed by Qian in every way—looks, age, and even in relationship. Yet, it's Qian who inspires her to pursue a career in acting.

Starting off, Cheng lands only small, unnoticed parts, like being a stand-in or an understudy. Meanwhile, a relationship with a middle-aged director seems to promise a breakthrough for her career, but it ultimately leads nowhere.

Seeking further growth, Cheng moves to London to study a master's degree in performing arts. There she ends her relationship with the director and embarks on a new romance with a pilot-in-training. After graduation, she receives a career-turning acting job in Shanghai, until a tragic accident on set brings the production and her ambition to a halt.

Is being a famous actress all that Cheng sees herself as? Can she take charge and write her own life story? Joanne Deng writes SECOND LEAD with an eye for the rich visual detail in the performing arts and recounts the story of an actress contending with the issues of class, gender, and family, leading readers down to a self-searching journey.