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