Synopsis:
A bracelet. A curse. And golden fishbones to be returned to the sea …
Guangdong, 1940. When Ha Yut Ying narrowly escapes Japanese soldiers by turning invisible, she knows her new-found magic must be kept a secret. But her mother, whose dreams foretell the future, suspects her daughter has changed, and warns her of a curse upon their family. For her protection, she gives her a gold bracelet whose links are shaped like fishbones.
After the war, Ha Yut Ying is sent to live with her father and his second wife, who have become wealthy factory owners in Hong Kong. Her stepmother, jealous of her beauty, forces her to work in the family’s shoe factory.
But when Yut Ying collides with a boy on a bicycle on her way to work, she loses her bracelet. The boy is Tommy Yeung, scion of a local soymilk tycoon. And their encounter will change both of their destinies forever…
Review:
This reimagines the Cinderella tale with historical fiction and magical realism. It has family curses, immigration, and complex mother-daughter relationships taking place in 1940s Hong Kong, and later America in a generational saga.
It’s a story about expectations, sacrifices, misplaced pain and blame, and internal suffering and longing.
You get two perspectives which lets you see how a daughter becomes a mother. How the charming becomes disillusioned.
Ultimately, how girls were/are told ‘can’t’, ‘don’t’, ‘no’ and how this gets passed down despite all intentions.
Unexpectedly, the romance was an extremely minor part of the book. This is a generational saga over anything else, with the spellbinding writing of a whimsical fantasy.
The historical fiction is more setting than atmosphere. Perhaps because of the isolation of the protagonist, we don’t get a wider scope of Hong Kong in the 1940s or what immigration was like widely-spread across America.
Likewise, this is a close character study more than anything else, so the fantastical elements are hazy and fairytale-like.
A very satisfying and quiet standalone magical realism novel suitable for Young Adults and Adults.
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