What an absolutely delightful read! I read an eARC of this book on NetGalley so thank you to the author and the publisher.

This was such a beautiful, sad novel. It’s told in alternating perspectives. We have Monica, who is writing a journal in modern day and we are interspersed with a letter her grandmother is writing. Monica is dealing with her grandmother’s deteriorating memory, having to take a break from college to care for her. Alongside, her grandmother is trying to write a letter to a long lost friend while she still can remember the events she needs to recount. Monica is also adjusting to a new presence in her life and the feelings this evokes and a challenging decision between career and education.

This story is generally about identity and memory. But there is an angle of magical realism that’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Monica’s family have a unique method of communication involving pencils, that can be very useful but is also something that nefarious characters would seek to exploit for their own agenda. We meet Monica’s grandmother as a girl in Shanghai and the perils her family experiences. There’s a lot of sadness and suffering in this story, which makes her grandmother reluctant to share her experience, except to those who have a relevant need to know.

This was such a compelling read, we see what people will do when their choices are limited, when they are backed into a corner. We rage against people who exploit others, causing sickness and suffering. There’s a really strong thread of female companionship within this book and female bonds are core to this story, between cousins, between sisters, between mothers and daughters and nieces and aunts, between grandmothers and granddaughters, and between female friendship and beyond. It’s really beautiful.

This was a fascinating, brilliantly written novel that presents the past and present in perfect tandem, asking important questions around memory and identity.

A truly captivating read that held my attention from.page 1 and didn't let it go until the final page. Brilliant craftsmanship and enchanting world building are two stand out features.

This one went straight to my top for this year. Told from two different and alternating points of view, the one of the grandma and the one of the granddaughter, it was narrated absolutely beautifully and had the right mix of historical fiction, magical realism, emotional writing, mystery and likeable characters for it to be a 5 star reading.

An engaging, elegant and intriguing read that spans generations, borders and history. I did just want to pick up Monica and either hug her or give her a shake at different points throughout the story, but when she finally burns a particular bridge I definitely gave a cheer! Besides learning a lot about a period of history where the focus is usually on what happened in the West, at least from what I remember of school, it also raises a lot of interesting questions about the different ways in which we learn about people, how we come to know them. There's a really cool parallel the author draws between connections made an age where lives are lived and shared online, and those made by pouring the self into the written word. I also love that the story essentially starts and finishes in the same place. All in all a very neat read. Thanks to Net Galley for the ARC!

A touching magic realism story that flows between two timelines about the sacrifices one makes for family and survival, especially if one is a woman. Reunions, betrayals, loss, and closure constantly spin around each other in this intimate story following Monica Tsai and her maternal grand-relations. It brilliantly explores and questions the past and present's way of communicating, the privacy and anonymity one is able to have, and the evolving norms surrounding familial roles and career.

Thanks to Netgalley and 4th Estate and William Collins | Fourth Estate for providing me with the e-ARC/DRC in exchange for an honest review

Magical and an onion style novel - one with so many layers, you never know what to expect but you do know there are going to be tears.

The Phoenix Pencil Company



Rating: 3.75



A complex and moving fantasy tale told from two perspectives Monica and her grandmother Wong Yun around the family’s secret of being a Reformer, someone who can tell you the secrets written of a pencil.



Wong Yun focuses on the past, her childhood in Shanghai during the second world war, and the choices she and her family needed to make to survive, and Monica who feels so alone in her world apart from her grandparents and finding out that her grandmother is ill. The connection between the two characters is beautiful, and the highlighting of how they long to communicate with each other and truly understand each other is a key theme throughout the book.



Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this book, and giving me the ability to lie in this beautiful world.