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.