Fishbone Cinderella

YA author Lim (A Forgery of Fate) dazzles in her dark and deftly woven adult debut. Ha Yut Ying first discovers she can turn invisible while hiding from Japanese soldiers during WWII—the latest manifestation, her mother tells her, of a curse that passes through their family from mother to daughter. Her mother’s curse is that she sees horrible visions of the future. Based on these visions, she sends Yut Ying to live with Yut Ying’s father and his second wife in Hong Kong to escape the ongoing tumult in mainland China. Yut Ying ends up working as an unpaid cook for her stepmother. Denied the education she longs for, she dreams of escaping to America with her equally miserable half sister, Lily. In a dual narrative set in 1980, Marigold, Yut Ying’s Americanized middle daughter, cursed with the ability to see what haunts people in their past, flies to Hong Kong with her mother, who has begun involuntarily flickering in and out of existence. There, the women search desperately for a way to keep Yut Ying from vanishing entirely. Blending the historically grounded and complex mother-daughter narratives of Amy Tan with the rich fantasy of Yangsze Choo, this stunning tale will delight Lim’s fans and newcomers alike. This is a gem. (July)