Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Rating: 4.7/5

I’m not usually a sentimental reader, preferring high-stakes scenes of epic clashes and intricate magic systems intertwined with politics… this book is not like that. This book was like burnt caramel, bitter and heavy, yet with a lingering sweetness and mellow nostalgia, one that transported me into its pages.

Elizabeth Lim is known for her beautiful renderings of Chinese fairytales, and I had read some of her pieces before, but none of them have emotionally resonated with me as much as this novel. Far more than just a pretty retelling of a classical fairytale, this breathed life, and all the emotions and pain that come with it, into the endlessly rehashed Cinderella tale (or more accurately, Yeh Shen 叶限）.

We follow a dual POV structure, flashing back and forth between Helen (Yut Ying) and Marigold, her daughter, as they traverse life and historical tides of war across the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and the US. Although the magic was relatively simple, it added the perfect touch of whimsy to the tale, and the characters were beautifully developed.

I fear if I continue to wax lyrical, I will start giving spoilers, but overall I would like to highly recommend this poignant novel to all those who wish, as I did, to escape into the nostalgia of fairytales for a little while.

I didn’t know a book could break my heart so quietly… and then put it back together so gently. 💔✨😭

Fishbone Cinderella is haunting, emotional, and achingly beautiful — and Elizabeth Lim’s adult debut is nothing short of stunning. This story feels more grounded, more raw, and more deeply reflective, while still carrying the lyrical magic I’ve come to love from her writing. Once again, she reached straight into my chest, shattered my heart, and somehow left me feeling whole by the final page. 🫶💫

This isn’t just a Cinderella retelling. It’s a story about mothers and daughters, about generational wounds, sacrifice, survival, and a mother’s love that endures through time, distance, and heartbreak. 👩‍👧❤️ The magic is subtle but powerful, woven so naturally into the story that it feels like a quiet inheritance rather than something loud or showy. ✨🐟

I loved how unflinchingly emotional this book was. It doesn’t shy away from grief, loss, or regret — yet it never feels hopeless. There is something profoundly moving about the way a mother’s love persists, even when life is cruel, even when choices are impossible, even when words are left unsaid. More than once, I had to pause just to sit with my feelings. 😭

The historical backdrop adds so much depth, grounding the story in reality while making the moments of magic feel even more precious. Every character felt painfully human — flawed, loving, stubborn, and doing the best they can with what they’re given. 🤍

This book shattered me… but it also picked up all my broken pieces in the end. ❤️‍🩹✨
It reminded me that healing doesn’t erase pain — it grows around it, carried by love that refuses to fade.

I absolutely loved this book (as I do with all of Elizabeth Lim’s stories), and Fishbone Cinderella will stay with me for a long, long time. 🥹📖💫

Elizabeth Lim never misses.

Every book of hers is perfect and this one is no different.

Such a beautiful, emotional read. I’ve felt so connected to every book of hers I’ve read, they’re so flawlessly written and take you into the world easily.

This might just be my favourite so far! I’m so glad I got to read it early, and I will 1000% recommend it to anyone and everyone!

This is definitely a five Star book. And as usual Elisabeth Lim does not disappoint!

So, first of all, many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of *Fishbone Cinderella*.
I’m so glad to have had the opportunity to read this wonderful book in advance. Ever since Six Crimson Cranes and its sequels, I’ve been a huge fan of Elisabeth Lim. This time, she’s tackled a completely different subject. She’s written about the story of a young Chinese woman during the turmoil of the war years in the middle of the last century and how she eventually emigrated to the USA.

The story is so heart-wrenching that at times I simply couldn’t bring myself to read on, so saddened was I by the many challenges and tragic events she had to face.

A truly wonderful book, and somehow I hope there might be more stories to come about the fates of the individual characters.

This was such a good read.The writing style was beautiful, and I loved how it explored generational curses, womanhood, and the historical aspects of the story. It was engaging through and through.

thank you to netgalley and hodder books for sending me the arc for fishbone cinderella. as someone who was born and raised in Hong Kong, reading a book about the place’s landmarks and cuisine gave a sense of nostalgia and a longing for my childhood in a weird way (even though i lived in hk long after the book’s setting). i had never read about generational trauma (within asian families) in a fantastical setting before so I was concerned whether the unrealistic nature of the characters’ powers would dilute the nuances of these feelings. luckily, elizabeth lim proved me wrong. the sense of awe and devastation that i felt when reading this book. i can’t even put it into words because it simply does not do it justice.

from start to finish, i felt a rollercoaster of emotions - the childhood innocence that yat ying felt in the beginning, the disillusion when she became helen, the hope that came with the explanation of marigold’s background (+ her relationship with kenji hello!!! I NEED ENDLESS EDITS OF THEM ON MY TABLE ONCE THE BOOK GETS PUBLISHED PLS AND THANK YOU)… fishbone cinderella was truly a masterpiece in its execution and i absolutely loved the message/ the book’s ending of needing to acknowledge the hurt to break free from your past. the book manages an almost impossible feat that is hard to achieve nowadays in fiction - having an interesting plot while having satisfying character development. i loved how all the feelings of the characters in this book are depicted in a raw and unflinching way. don’t get me wrong - you will get annoyed at certain points of the story at them but you will love them nonetheless bc of how human their flaws are and that is what i love about fishbone cinderella most of all. it does not shy away from the ugly and beautiful parts of human emotion and no one is 100% a villain (even that chop stepmother i understand you but respectfully fawk u).

in dark times like this, the book’s message is incredibly powerful - love and hope are what drive us humans and bring us together. growing up with mommy issues (help), i related a LOT to marigold and yat ying’s tumultuous relationship and i am so glad this book exceeded my expectations and centred love around familial relationships aside from romantic relationships.

have i mentioned how much i love marigold and kenji? (yes but i won’t shut up about them BYE THEY ARE SO DEAR TO ME they give me shirbert vibes if ykyk) anyways hehe I can’t believe this is my FIRST elizabeth lim book and this is her adult debut HELLO??? IS SHE INSANE. i love you queen needless to say i am a huge elizabeth lim fan after this and will be purchasing the physical copy of this book once it gets published.

i think this is my favourite arc ever and my first 5-star read for a fictional book this year. truly flawless. no notes.

if you are finding one book to read this year, let it be fishbone cinderella. i am serious. if this book has no fans, i’m dead.

Elizabeth Lim's "Fishbone Cinderella" is an emotional page turner, following Yut Ying and her painful journey as she struggles to survive in war-torn China, all whilst living with the curse that impacts each generation of her family.

Fishbone Cinderella is a story of loss, betrayal, trauma and survival. With mentions of miscarriage, neglect, poison and a boatload of generational trauma, this is not a light read in the slightest. However, the expertly written characters, the amazing use of multiple timelines and the gorgeous correlation with the ‘Chinese Cinderella’ tale of Yeh Shen will keep you transfixed: crashing in disappointment at Ying’s actions whilst still fearing for her future.

This is Lim’s debut into adult fiction and so is a step away from the YA fantasy of Spin the Dawn or Six Crimson Cranes. However, the flow into historical fairytale feels so personal that, if you know Lim as an author, this will be the easiest transition ever.
With heartbreak, magic and a happy ever after to make you weep, Fishbone Cinderella was exactly what we have come to expect from Elizabeth Lim.
This is the perfect grown-up fairytale in my opinion and my favourite read of the year so far.

I went into Fishbone Cinderella expecting the comfort of a classic retelling, but I emerged feeling like I’d lived through an entire lifetime—or rather, two. What started as a familiar premise quickly blossomed into something so much more ambitious than I ever anticipated. The way Elizabeth Lim expands the scope of this story to span two generations was such a brilliant subversion of the fairy tale trope; it transformed what could have been a simple "once upon a time" into a complex, breathing family history that felt both epic and intimate.

The author handles the sensitive themes of the book with incredible grace, particularly the heavy mantle of generational trauma. Seeing how the characters navigated the shadows of their ancestors' choices felt so raw and honest, giving the story a depth you don't usually find in a standard retelling.

There is a haunting, heartwrenching beauty to the prose that caught me completely off guard, and I’ll be honest—I spent a good portion of the final chapters absolutely sobbing. It’s a stunning, poetic exploration of the bones we carry and the magic it takes to heal them. If you’re looking for a book that will move you to tears and leave you thinking about it for days, this is the one. Just make sure you have a box of tissues nearby.

Absolutely stunning, incredible, gorgeous from the very beginning to the very end. I enjoyed Lim's YA work, but her adult debut is on a whole other level. It's historical fiction blended with fantasy and bits of a retelling, and I was glued to it. This is one of those books that make you stay up way too late despite having a long work day ahead of you because it's just so good you can't put it down.

It's a very emotional read that centers a girl whose family is thrust into sino-japanese war, who has to survive the horrors of it and its aftermath, who has to deal with loss and grief and injustice all her life - and who also just so happens to have the ability to disappear. I felt for Yut Ying/Helen every moment of the book. Her story intertwines with that of her daughter Marigold decades later, and while Marigold is mostly part of the story's framework at first, her own story and her mother's come together in such a perfectly written way that it elevates the whole narrative even more. Marigold, too, has a strange power, just like her mother, just like her grandmother, and it might all come down to a mysterious family curse.

The whole book is masterfully crafted and gorgeously written. The characters and the often complicated relationships are complex and intriguing, the emotions are raw and felt and earned, the thematic depth is perfectly balanced with a well-paced narrative and I genuinely cried at some points in the story. I cannot recommend this more and I really, really hope Lim continues writing adult literature somewhere between literary and fantasy fiction. Already a favourite of this year.

This was ne of my most anticipated releases of the year to begin with and now I'm even more excited for it. I love the way Elizabeth Lim writes; it is so vivid and you can feel that in every aspect of the worlds she builds in her novels. Furthermore, I feel that Fishbone Cinderella really brings her skills as a writer to the spotlight as it's her first adult novel and simultaneously her first work not set in her fictional universe Lor'yan, but in the reaal world. Thus, there is no previous framework to rely on but everything is built from the ground up. And Lim absolutely does magnificent work in that aspect.

Fishbone Cinderella's multiple timelines weave you in very naturally: you know where the story leads, but you also know there is so much you don't know and moreover, the story is not over at all. And well, you just need to know everything. The magic system, if it can even be called that, of the novel is so intricate and subtle that as a reader, you need to know more and more of it until it feels real (but all of this is donee in the best way possible). Yet, by the time you've read the whole novel, it really does all feel so real like it actually happened in our world, no matter the impossibility. And I loved how the fairytale aspects tied into "real life", as I allways do, to be honest.

When it comes to thee characters, Lim crafts them carefully and vividly, as usual. They are all complex and humane, so you can't help but root for everyone even when the family dynamics clash and you feel mad in behalf of a character, still, you feel for the other side as well. In this, Lim really excels and I truly loved readinf and further understanding the complicated family relationships and secrets. Furthermore, every character and relationship is given enough time to develop so no one feels overshadowed and the family drama feels balanced with the magic, too.

To conclude, I absolutely loved this and can't wait to read the final, published novel. And, to no surprise, I will keep up with Lim's work in the future and am particularly curious where she goes with her adult prose next, granted she continues writting in this age category.


Thank you, Hodder & Stoughton | Hodderscape & NetGalley, for providing me with the eARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions and views expressed are my own.

This felt like reading a fairy tale wrapped in the aftermath of war, quiet, layered, and heavier than it first appears.

The story weaves Chinese folklore and myth into the reality of life during and after the Second World War, and that blend works beautifully. Tradition, superstition, and generational storytelling sit right next to trauma, loss, and survival. It creates this rich, almost dreamlike atmosphere but one that never lets you forget how much was taken from these people. Childhoods, futures, entire identities… you feel that loss in every chapter.

What stayed with me most is how the story moves through generations of women.

We follow Yut Ying, later Helen, and her daughter Marigold, with glimpses reaching even further back. Their lives are tied together by a curse that manifests differently in each generation, and slowly, piece by piece, you start to understand it. That unfolding mystery is subtle, but compelling.

The characters are layered, even the side ones. Everyone feels shaped by their circumstances, by tradition, by expectations they didn’t choose. And that’s also where the book hurt the most for me, especially when it comes to the women. The weight of tradition, the limits placed on their choices… it’s frustrating, because it feels so inescapable.

The pacing sits somewhere in the middle: not rushed, not dragging. You can step away and return easily, but emotionally, it’s not a light read. There’s a constant heaviness running through it. This isn’t a story filled with joy. It’s one shaped by endurance.

The ending - my favourite part.

It brings everything full circle in a way that feels earned. The connection back to the goldfish tale, that thread of folklore running through the entire story, lands beautifully. As someone who grew up with fairy tales, I loved seeing a different cultural version of something so familiar, woven into something deeper and more complex.

Not an easy or light read.
But a thoughtful, layered story that stays with you.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Such a brilliant story. It spans generations and you really get to know the central characters. Inspired by a fairytale but equally a chronicle of a family in China, Hong Kong, the USA from world war 2 to the late twentieth century.
The story has some real villains and satisfying resolutions to storylines. The writing is beautiful.

This book felt so realistic even tho it has the magical realism aspect to it. The writing was so beautiful and immersive! I felt like as I was a part of the story and was following along with the characters. This for me is one of the best feelings when reading books. I forget that the book is not real life.

Some parts of the book is set around 1940 when the war between China and Japan was ongoing. It was so hardbreaking to read about how the family we are following in China experiensed living under this war. We also dive into themes of how difficult it was to be a girl/woman at this time. How women where the property of their husband, they where not supposed to work, only bear children, etc. It makes one really appreciate how lucky some of us are to this day.

The ending for this story wraps up perfectly. We get somewhat of an happy ending and I got answears to the questions I had through the story. The magical aspect with the curse set upon the women in this family was so good and very simple, which I really loved. It was a small part of the story but at the same time so important!

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read and review this! I love Elizabeth Lim's work and this was so different from anything else I've read by her. This had a historical edge that I hadn't been expecting. I loved the dual timeline, exploring Helen's h=life throughout any different phases as she struggled with her curse, and getting to know Marigold in the present day timeline. This was fantastic

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

I've read almost all of Elizabeth Lim's books thus far so I was naturally very excited about this one too. And whilst it is dramatically different than her previous novels, it is no less magical in its content and the atmosphere it weaves.

This novel is nothing short of beautiful, but equally unafraid of showcasing the broken, jagged edges of a life lived. Lim expertly crafts the tales of these two women and how their lives have been shaped by war, prejudice, finances and so much more, all whilst adding a touch of magic to it all.

A truly stunning novel and an absolute pleasure to read, even as it broke my heart time and time again, only to heal it once more too.

Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim is an incredible read. It manages to feel like a book nobody had even done before despite being based off a fairly common fairytale (Cinderella obviously).

It was a book that leaves you feeling content when finishing it, a great stand-alone book.

The characters are very complex and great to read, following both our FMC and her daughter’s POV jumping back and forth between time. It was very easy to keep track of where we were in the story and which POV we were reading from.

Overall, I absolutely adored this book and I recommend to anybody looking for a good quick read. 5/5

I had never read a book by Elizabeth Lim before, but after seeing only glowing reviews from my friends about Fishbone Cinderella, I had a feeling her adult debut would be the perfect place to start exploring her bibliography. I’m so glad NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton lgave me the opportunity to follow my instinct.

Fishbone Cinderella is a beautiful multi-generational story that explores themes of love, war, history, generational trauma, immigration, loss, and hope, all woven together with touches of magical realism and fantasy.

The story follows two women: a mother, Ha Yut Ying, and her daughter, Marigold.
We follow Ha Yut Ying in 1940s China, where, while hiding from Japanese soldiers during the war, she discovers that she can turn invisible. After the war, she travels to Hong Kong to live with her father and his second wife, leaving her mother behind. She arrives full of dreams and hope, only to realize that reality might not be what it seems, and that forbidden love can easily turn into heartbreak.

Marigold grows up in 1960s San Francisco. An overachiever with dreams of becoming a doctor, she also possesses a gift for uncovering secrets. Yet the mystery she longs to solve most is her mother herself. She knows very little about Helen’s life in Hong Kong and begins to notice that her mother is slowly vanishing. To save her, Marigold must uncover the truth about her family and the curse that follows some of the women in it.

Fishbone Cinderella was everything I hoped it would be and more. I cried countless times while reading this book. It is beautifully written, deeply emotional, and layered with so much depth and nuance. The story makes you care profoundly about its characters while reminding you that every choice we make can have consequences far beyond what we can imagine.

The more you learn about each protagonist, the more compassion you feel for them, and the more you wish they could show themselves that same compassion. As the daughter of immigrants who had to flee war, I related deeply to Marigold. So much of our own journey becomes an attempt to understand both the joys and the traumas that shaped our parents before us.

It is truly special to recognize, while reading, that a story will leave a lasting mark on your soul, and I know Fishbone Cinderella will stay with me forever. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone, and I cannot wait for more readers to fall in love with it as much as I did. My only advice is to keep a box of tissues nearby.

I cannot thank NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton enough for the incredible opportunity to read an eARC of this stunning novel. It may have been my first book by Elizabeth Lim, but it certainly will not be my last.

Thank you for the ARC! This book was truly a masterpiece. I love Elizabeth Lim's writing. The story was beautiful. The characters were incredibly well written. Helen's character especially—I loved her character with all her strengths and flaws. I went through every emotion with this book; I fell in love with it. It went beyond my expectations and has become a favorite of mine.

I adore Elizabeth Lim and her utterly brilliant imagination. I've loved all her YA books and was so excited when I heard about her adult fantast debut. I'm happy to announce that I was not disappointed.

It's such a wonderful heartfelt story about happiness and sorrow, wins and losses. It's a story about life in every sense of the word. While it deals with a lot of hard topics and you can't help but feel everything the characters go through, there's always this thread of hope that's always a constant in Elizabeth Lim's books. A thread that makes you feel all warm and happy inside when you read.

I have to admit that I found the book a bit slow to begin with. Still good enough that I wanted to continue reading though. However, by the time I was half-way through, I was completely immersed in the story and didn't want to put the book down.

Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim is such a beautiful story but at the same time a sad story but one that becomes beautiful with the way the characters overcome tragedies. It's a story that spans generations and shows the consequences of certain decisions and how we can live with them. I loved the characters and the way they were written and described.

This was a fairly slow burning read, but one that hit me way harder than I expected it to by the end of it!

Fishbone Cinderella is a dual POV, multiple timeline book following Yut Ying's past as she navigates a generational curse that only affects the women in her family, and her daughter, Marigold, in the future who is determined to find answers to her own mysterious ailment whilst trying to repair the relationship with her mother.

The book focuses a lot on female relationships and they're handled in such a beautiful and heart wrenching way. From a jealous step-mother, to sisters learning to love one another, to strained mother-daughter relationships, each of them is a victim of their own unfortunate circumstances. Despite the awful ways Yut Ying is treated at times, you really can't help but feel some form of pity for each character once you begin to understand that they are just trying to survive in a time where women had such little power over their own lives.

Yut Ying's story was heart breaking on so many levels. From the moment she flees to Hong Kong to escape the war with the Japanese, reluctantly leaving her mother, to meeting her first love totally by chance, we watch as the people she cares for most fail her one after another. Her hopes and dreams are slowly stripped away, until she's left jaded and focusing solely on what she can do to survive and reunite with her mother. Yut Ying was such a deeply complicated character, and despite her hopes for the future fizzling out, she never truly gives up and is determined to give her daughters a better life than she ever had.

One of my favourite things about Elizabeth Lim's writing is the way she weaves fairytales and folklore into the lives and histories of her characters. This is a spin on the Chinese version of Cinderella - Yeh-Shen - and it was so perfectly fitting for the setting and the struggles that Yut Ying experiences and I really enjoyed her take on it.

Fishbone Cinderella is by no means a happy read, but it's a story that's going to make you really feel something deep in your bones!

Thank you so much for the ARC!

4.5 stars!

Fishbone Cinderella is absolutely beautiful, brilliant, and heartbreaking. I've loved everything I've read by Elizabeth Lim, but this book is very different from what she usually writes, and I loved it just the same, if not even more. From about the halfway point onward, I was crying on and off all the way to the end.

I honestly don't know how to put into words how much I loved this book. It wasn't what I expected when I picked it up, but it ended up being so much more. I read nearly half of it in a single day because I was completely gripped by the story and couldn't stop thinking about it whenever I put it down.

At first, I wasn't sure how I felt about the dual POVs and different timelines, but I ended up loving that aspect of the story. I was initially more invested in Yut Ying's perspective since that's where most of the story takes place in the beginning, but once we spent more time in Marigold's timeline, I became just as attached to her story. Both perspectives felt equally important, and together they created something incredibly emotional and powerful.

While there is romance in this book, and it was SO good, the heart of the story is really the mother daughter relationships. They were beautifully written, realistic, messy, and deeply complex. No one in this book is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, carries regrets, and does the best they can with the circumstances they're given (well, mostly everyone). That made the characters feel incredibly human and easy to connect with. There were so many moments that completely ripped my heart out, but also so many that made me smile. Following Yut Ying from her childhood during war and the Japanese invasion, to her life with her father and stepmother, and later watching her build a new life for herself, was incredibly moving. It felt like I was watching her grow up, struggle, love, and find her place in the world. I felt so connected to her, and once we got more of Marigold's perspective, I felt equally invested in her journey.

I wish we had gotten a little more at the end. There were still a few questions left unanswered, although I believe that was very much intentional on the author's part. Even so, it was a beautiful ending that I enjoyed so much and one that felt fitting for the story being told.

Overall, this was a stunning and deeply emotional novel that completely exceeded my expectations. I already know I'll be thinking about these characters and their stories for a long time.

Wow what a beautiful story! Hope, first love, loss, growing up, generational trauma, Asian history, fairytale retelling, and being strong in the face of adversity. There's just so many things I love about this story!

I have several of Elizabeth Lim's YA books on my shelf, and as soon as this Fishbone Cinderella is published it is joining them as the first adult novel. The tone is more sophisticated, but the prose and descriptions is as wonderful as ever.

Lim is a great storyteller and her weaving the much beloved fairytale of Cinderella into an Asian version (I am unaware if the story contained in this novel exists in real life) with the harsh reality of life.

There are two timelines running side by side throughout this novel. Ha Yut Ying's life growing up, all her hardships growing up in the Guangdong province during WWII and the Japanese soldiers terrorising the local population, and her daughter, Marigold. Both are strong characters that I absolutely adore!

After the end of the war Yut Ying is sent to live with her father and his new wife in Hong Kong. We follow her as she grows up in a world very unlike the one she knew. Her life takes several turns, some of which made my cry, and intertwined is the curse of her bloodline that the daughters inherit variations of a curse. It is so well done I can only bow to Lim and her mastery in wordsmithing is superb.

° ˖✧ 𝓣𝓛;𝓓𝓡 ✧˖°
A beautifully haunting historical fantasy perfect for readers looking for a fairytale curse spanning generations, a scorned mother that continues to protect her own, and a poetic writing style filled with emotional depth.

° ˖✧ 𝓡𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 ✧˖°
4.5 ⭐
1 🌶️

° ˖✧ 𝓠𝓾𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓼 ✧˖°
"Don't grow up too fast, Ying. Life is more beautiful when you're a child."

"I'm Tommy. Tommy Yeung. You are...?"
I held up my cleaver. "I'm good with a knife."

"You learn a lot about people from what brings them shame."

"Give me all the books ever written, and my favourite line would still be the one between your lips, my favourite world the one where you exist next to me."

° ˖✧ 𝓢𝔂𝓷𝓸𝓹𝓼𝓲𝓼 𝓢𝓾𝓶𝓶𝓪𝓻𝔂 ✧˖°
When Ha Yut Ying is sent to live with her father and step-mother after the war, she’s forced to work in the family’s shoe factory. Walking to work, she bumps into the heir of a local soy milk tycoon and loses the bracelet her mother gifted.

° ˖✧ 𝓣𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓼 ✧˖°
📖 Fairytale Retelling
🐟 Family Curse
✨ Hidden Magic
🕰️ Dual Timeline
💕 Mother-Daughter POV
💥 Historical Wars
❤️‍🩹 Generational Trauma
🫶 Family Themes

° ˖✧ 𝓣𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓰𝓮𝓻 𝓦𝓪𝓻𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 ✧˖°
💢 War Violence
🆘 Abuse/Neglect
💨 Abandonment
💀 Murder
🩸 Miscarriage
🪦 Grief
🗣️ Bigotry

° ˖✧ 𝓛𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼 ✧˖°
+ Beautiful Prose
+ Vivid Setting
+ Compelling FMC
+ Steady Pacing
+ Emotional Depth
+ Pockets of Joy
+ Fairytale Themes
+ Haunting Atmosphere

° ˖✧ 𝓓𝓲𝓼𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓼 ✧˖°
- Rushed Ending
- Second FMC less engaging
- Repeated Revelations
- Emotional Fatigue due to heavy content

° ˖✧ 𝓜𝔂 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓼 ✧˖°
I was hesitant going into this read as I'd not read Asian Historical Fiction before, but I needn't have worried! Granted there were some terms/events I was unfamiliar with, but everything's explained enough to be read without bogging down the pacing.

I immediately connected with the voice of Helen/Yut Ying. After a brief scene from her daughter's POV and setting the mystery up, we're in Helen's childhood and remain there for some time. She lives in her small village with her two brothers, mother, and grandmother just as the Japanese have invaded China. The action is steady from the start and continues that way through most of the book.

In my mind, Helen is the star of this story. Yes, it's a book about the relationship between grandma, mother, and daughter with highlights of resilience, communication, and vulnerability. But it's also about the trauma Helen faced. The bitterness she embodies, even without trying. Helen is a woman scorned by the world, yet it only makes her grit her teeth and work harder. I found it so haunting to follow her journey.

Every time I hoped there would be something positive for the family, it never lasted long. I felt like my hope became just as jaded as Helen and her mother's the more the story progressed. This is a heavy read, make no mistake, but there are light moments and the ending feels hard won. The slight humour between Helen and Tommy, and her friends. Marigold's sass with her sisters. These little pockets of joy were much needed to lift the story out of the angst, even if only briefly.

I loved the fairytale full circle moment at the end. I'll be honest, by 75% of the book I was anticipating a more depressing resolution, but a realistic satisfaction awaited me instead. The ending did feel rushed at times, however I think part of that is because the rest of the book spanned decades while the last act had more time jumps.

Because I was so invested in Helen's story, her daughter Marigold's didn't feel as engaging. She needed to solve the mystery of her mother, but as we'd already read most of it ourselves from Helen's POV, the anticipation wasn't always there. Her interactions with Ken were light and fun, as were those with her sisters, but it was still Helen's voice that I was waiting for in that part of their lives.

Of course, this is a dense book spanning multiple generations and lives. Sometimes that made it hard for me to pick up the story, even though I knew once I did I would be immediately immersed in it's pages. There's also a lot of potentially triggering content, and while it didn't affect me like it might others, I still felt that cloud of depression and anxiety that follows Helen for most of her journey.

This book is a commitment, but one that will pay you back tenfold. A hauntingly beautiful insight into a dark yet hopeful lifetime.

Thank you to Elizabeth Lim and Hodder & Stoughton for the opportunity to receive an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

GoodReads and Fable reviews have been shared as of 17th June 2026, and Instagram and Amazon reviews will be posted on the UK publication date. I will update my feedback with the Instagram and Amazon links when available.

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

This was a riveting historical novel with elements of magical realism. We follow a young girl, from hardship in her childhood, to being sent to her father’s family in Hong Kong to stories in the USA. Interspersed with perspectives from Marigold, trying to get her mother through a plane journey.

The magical realism was done so subtly and cleverly. It was thrilling when we learn the root cause late on in the book. Initially we learn the main character disappears sometimes, her invisibility helping her when she needs to stay unseen, but also a problem when it happens when she doesn’t want it to.

This is frequently a hard read emotionally as the characters go through some harrowing events. The historical storyline starts in war time and we see characters suffering. There’s later on family cruelty and exploitation. Our characters go through a lot. Even the later, more modern characters still are harmed by their families in different ways.

There’s some lovely details to this book, the love of cooking, the Cinderella connections, the girl in the dress. It’s a really well-written, engaging historical novel that manages to do something quite fresh and exciting with its magic and fairytale connections, without veering too far into fantasy.

I went into this story blind and it definitely exceeded my expectations. Following the story of three generations of women spanning China, Hong Kong and America I was immediately hooked.

It offered a real insight into Japanese colonisation and the impact of being a second generation immigrant in America.

The suffering, cruelty and resilience was compelling and the splash of magical realism told its own story of cultural and generational barriers in a gentle but unique way.

The characters were engaging, the pacing was spot on and not a word was wasted.

Thank you NetGalley for my ARC which I received in exchange for the above honest review.

I cried like a baby. This is so touching, I felt every emotion under the sun.

Yut Ying's story was incredibly moving, and her character development masterful. I loved her relationship with Lily, as well as the complexities of her other relationships.

Marigold's perspective was also really interesting, and the final convergence of both narratives felt really natural and beautiful.

This is one of those stories that leaves a mark with the reader; I would recommend this to anyone.

What a wonderful story, one I felt truly enthralled by.

The fantasy element is fairly light, the story focuses mainly on family - it's a generational saga with a fairylate twist, also encompassing real historical aspects.

I absolutely loved every page, but also found it utterly devastating at times. I cried three separate times, at various points and for different reasons. The dual point of view and timeline told the tale so beautifully.

Truly a tremendous reading experience.

Exquisite. Superb. Fantastic. Phenomenal. Beautiful. Unbeatable.

I could actually go on for days about this book. It was everything I wanted and more. Which shouldn’t surprise me when it comes to Lim.

I posted on my socials every day for nearly 3 weeks begging for a proof copy, I was unfortunately not picked but am extremely lucky to have read this early via Netgalley.

Lim has been, and always will be, an auto buy author for me. Her works are nothing short of spectacular. The way she works lore and myth into EVERY SINGLE BOOK just blows me away.

The whole concept of mother and daughter was beautiful. It was a turmoil of emotions with the dual POV, feeling the anguish and pain as they did. I just couldn’t. It will change you in ways you will never see coming. Lim is a mastermind.

With that being said, Lim is now going to be paying for my therapy because I just can’t get over the book in one piece. Okay? Awesome. Thanks.

I was almost tempted to click “I will not be giving feedback” and letting them know they owe me for my therapy 😂

I absolutely loved this book! It pulled on your heartstrings (legit, i got really sad at certain bits). The story made me very emotional as we got to see the life the mum lived and saw through the eyes of the daughter in the present. It was linked so well and the writing was so beautiful. I could just sit there and immerse myself into the story. To be honest, i didn't want to put the book down. Even though i have a few Elizabeth Lim books, this was the first one i read of hers (yes, i know. My tbr is out of hand) and it's left me with a great impression of the author. I cannot wait to get stuck into her other books. I want to talk about it in detail but i don't want to give anything away. Everyone needs to experience this book without any kind of spoilers because trust me, it's one you'll want to read. If you pick up a book in July, then let this be the one!

Thank you so much Hodder & Stoughton and netgalley for allowing me to read an e-arc of this book.

As someone who has read many variations of Ye Xian, I was naturally interested in this book. It genuinely reminded me of another book I'd read way back in 2007 - Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, a memoir of sorts about a woman growing up post-war in a family situation like Helen in this book..

The changing of past to present was well written, and I was eager to finish the book to discover what happened next. A beautiful read, and I'd be interested in seeing this marketed as a YA or children's book as well.