As many of you know, Elizabeth Lim has become a staple to THP’s bookshelf. We’ll read anything she releases, especially if it’s her adult debut novel, Fishbone Cinderella. Set in 1940s Hong Kong and 1960s San Francisco, this dual narrative blew us away with its rich history and powerful family bonds.
Fishbone Cinderella follows a mother-daughter pair, Helen Ying Yuen and Marigold Mei Yoong Yuen, as they try to break their family curse. Helen discovers her ability to turn invisible when Japanese soldiers invade her hometown. When Marigold notices Helen’s strange condition decades later, she realizes she’s the only one who can help her mother.
We connected with Elizabeth Lim’s adult debut on so many levels. Here are three things that make Fishbone Cinderella such a dazzling read!
Book Overview: Fishbone Cinderella
Content warnings: deaths of family members and loved ones, murder, suicide, violence, blood, child abuse, warfare, weapons, guns, poisoning, drug use, addiction, pregnancy, childbirth, vomiting, smoking (Read at your discretion!)
Summary: 1940s Hong Kong
When Japanese soldiers invade her hometown, Ha Yut Ying makes an unlikely escape—by turning invisible. But her miraculous survival is only the beginning. After the war is over, she’s sent to Hong Kong to live with her distant father and glamorous stepmother, who end her dreams of becoming a singer and turn her into the family’s servant. As the years pass, Yut Ying learns the hard truths of betrayal and ambition, of forbidden love and devastating loss, and discovers that sometimes the only way to endure is to disappear.
1960s San Francisco
Marigold has always had a knack for uncovering secrets, but nothing prepares her for the day she accidentally witnesses her mother vanish before her eyes. The moment fractures their bond, leaving questions that shadow her entire childhood. But when her mother’s condition suddenly deteriorates, Marigold is convinced she’s the only person who can save her. To do so, she must journey into the secrets her mother never shared and uncover the tragic, fairytale-tinged history their family has fought to forget.
A story of mothers and daughters, the scars they inherit and the magic that binds them, Fishbone Cinderella is a tender and enchanting exploration of what it means, at last, to be seen.
The Immersive History
To start, if you can get the audiobook for Fishbone Cinderella, then go for it! Listening along to this story helped us connect with it on a much deeper level. The narrative bounces between two main eras: 1940s Hong Kong and 1960s San Francisco. We live through Ha Yut Ying’s childhood with her estranged father and cruel stepmother following the Japanese occupation of China. She works tirelessly at her family’s shoe factory and at home as a servant and cook. Those years culminate in her finding a way to escape to the States. It’s such a rich and immersive story from the very beginning. We didn’t want to put it down.
Mother-Daughter Bonds
We’re not ashamed to admit that we cried multiple times reading Fishbone Cinderella. It touched our soul and gave us a safe space to feel all our frustrations. Helen and Marigold’s bond is the core of this story and ultimately the cure to the family curse. Helen’s ability to disappear at will eventually becomes erratic and involuntary. And as Marigold witnesses the few times her mother has vanished into thin air, she looks for ways to save her. With a special ability of her own, Marigold slowly uncovers her mother’s well-kept secrets. Both mother and daughter must let one another in if they want any hope of surviving their curse.
Fairytale Elements
Finally, the fairytale elements in Fishbone Cinderella made this adult debut stand out even more. The author incorporates the stories of “Yeh-Shen” and “Beauty and Pock Face,” both of which are classic Chinese fairytales. In them, the protagonists suffer at the hands of her stepmother. These two tales give us the origins for Helen and Marigold’s family curse. It starts with a magical fish (or cow, as in “Beauty and Pock Face”), whose bones are used to form beautiful gowns and slippers for a special festival. And as the characters in Fishbone Cinderella would discover on their journey, there was a crucial detail they missed.
Elizabeth Lim’s Fishbone Cinderella is brimming with rich history, complex mother-daughter dynamics, and fairytale origins. It makes for an inter-generational adult debut that brought us to tears more times than we expected.
Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim comes out July 28th, and you can order a copy of it here!
What do you think of Elizabeth Lim’s adult debut? Have you already get your copy of Fishbone Cinderella? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
Want to hear some of our audiobook recommendations? Here’s the latest!
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ELIZABETH LIM:
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