Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
Highly recommended for an excellent storyline, wonderful characters and the way the author includes insight in to the racism and culture clashes experienced in both timelines. And there it was—that wall. Her experiences versus mine, as if she owned that part of history and I could only receive it second hand. Sometimes. Rarely. Never.”
The women in this story are flawed but strong. The men are less admirable: one character is particularly unkind and heartless but all the men in this story are weak and selfish with the women left to cope with the consequences and sort out the mess. An astounding debut ... written with emotion and astuteness, this deserves to be on book prize lists' PRIMA It’s a story of identity, belonging, family secrets and sibling rivalry written in clean, crisp prose and in shifting chapters that at the beginning of the story are a little jarring, but give the story pace and power as it reaches its conclusion. The intricate plot is brilliantly brought to life, but for me it’s also the beauty of the writing that shines out. Whether describing the Hong Kong streets where the air is ‘a soup of clove oil and talcum’ or a lunch in London where ‘the brume of vegetables boiled to surrender hung heavy over the table’, you’re right there with Lily or Sook-Yin.A story of family, love, redemption and belonging, told with such heart and empathy. Essential and utterly unforgettable' Fiona Scarlett Ambitious … readers won’t be disappointed as Wharton ultimately resolves many mysteries in the book’ GUARDIAN I had a galley of this book for a while and put off reading it, not knowing what it was about but mistakenly thinking it was sad-girl Brit lit. How wrong was I!
Set between the dual timelines of the ‘Chinese Windrush’ in the 1960s, and London in the 1990s, this is the story of Sook-Yin and her daughter Lily, who can barely remember the mother she lost when she was barely five-years-old. Thirty years later, in London, her daughter Lily can barely remember the mother she lost as a small child. But when she is unexpectedly named in the will of a powerful Chinese stranger, she embarks on a secret pilgrimage to Hong Kong to discover the lost side of her identity and claim the reward. But she soon learns that the secrecy around her heritage has deep roots, and good fortune comes at a price. I thought it interesting to show how there is discrimination against Westernized Chinese in the use of the terms “ghost” and “banana.” Sook-Yin's half-British daughter Lily is the Ghost Girl, a foreigner in Chinese eyes, as she is part white, and though she looks Chinese, she is also a banana -yellow on the outside, but white on the inside due to her upbringing. The term "banana" may also refer to Lily’s mother Sook-Yin, who married a British man.Please forgive me when I say that what attracted me to this book was my assumption for its cute title - I mean, what could have gone wrong; it has ‘girl’, ‘ghost’, ‘banana’ - only to realise that they are actually racial slurs - derogatory terms. A gripping and evocative tale of family secrets, courage, adversity and love. Sook-Yin and Lily’s stories are beautifully told and truly unforgettable . . . such accomplished storytelling and gorgeous prose. Brilliant’ Emma Stonex At the end of the book, the author has a lovely note explaining how the book was inspired by her own mother’s diaries which she found only after her mother’s unexpected death. As we hop between timelines, we meet Lily – a funny and musically talented 20-something who, as a biracial child growing up in the shadow of a seemingly perfect sister, never quite seemed to fit in. And Sook-Yin, who leaves Kowloon and arrives in a wet, lonely, and racist Britain in 1966, with the aim of becoming a nurse. With her efforts to be happy and accepted – and to find a sense of belonging – thwarted at every turn, your heart begins to ache for her.
My immigrant mother had died and left me with half an identity about as useful as a broken mug,” Lily says in London in 1997. Lost, depressed and feeling inferior to her elder sister Maya, Lily’s quest for her heritage is sparked when she is unexpectedly named in the will of a wealthy Chinese stranger. She faces the life-changing prospect of inheriting half a million pounds on the condition that she visits Hong Kong to sign the papers. Ghost Girl, Banana by Wiz Wharton is historical fiction focussed on a woman from Hong Kong who is exiled from her family to London and what happens once she marries an English man and has two daughters. It is a dual timeline with the chapters set in 1966 onwards told from the point of view of Sook-Yin Chen and her time in both Kowloon and London and then the chapters set in 1997 focussed on Sook-Yin’s adult daughter Lily. The title draws from this dual focus with Lily the Ghost Girl (a bi-racial woman who doesn’t know her cultural heritage) and Sook-Yin the Banana (only yellow on the outside). Warton’s debut novel, Ghost Girl, Banana – based on her mother’s posthumously discovered diaries – is a dual narrative examining the search for belonging and identity, set between the last years of the Chinese Windrush in 1966 and Hong Kong’s Handover to China in 1997. It was pre-empted by Hodder Studio. This is an expertly woven story about how guilt and grief can tear apart a family and then the slow, painful rebuilding of selves and bonds. Ultimately, it’s a celebration of love and dual heritages. The story is split between Lily, living in London, in 1997, and her mother Sook-Yin, from the years 1966-1977 (give or take). Lily was a toddler when her mother died. Her father recently died from cancer and she receives a huge inheritance. This gives Lily the chance to discover who her mother was in Hong Kong. Without telling her overprotective sister, she takes a journey full of secrets and lies.
Need Help?
An intriguing, beautifully written study of the stories we inherit. I loved being in Lily and Sook-Yin’s heads, my heart breaking for them . . . I loved it!’ Nikki May The path of both mother and daughter mirror each other beautifully and the battles faced by dual heritage families in 1960s London and a daughter of dual heritage in a tense Hong Kong during the 1997 handover. Discovering family history or secrets is always interesting, and I specifically like this kind of story. This book has a clear premise with the combined stories over decades and countries that explore multiple themes like immigration, belonging, identity, love, and family dynamics.
Suddenly she receives a letter informing her that she and her sister have been left a significant inheritance by someone in Hong Kong. Despite her sister's efforts to dissuade her a series of unfortunate events led Lily to decide that she must travel to Hong Kong and uncover the mystery that surrounds her early childhood. Debts pile up thanks to Julian’s incompetence and alcoholism, and to rescue the marriage they have another child. When Sook-Yin convinces Julian and their daughters Maya and Lily to move to Hong Kong for a new life, misfortune prevails. Influenced by Sook-Yin’s shifty brother Ah-Choi, Julian gets involved with loan sharks in the notorious Kowloon Walled City. Trying to save him and the family, Sook-Yin reconnects with her childhood friend Hei-Fong, now a successful banker, but tragedy strikes. Wharton structures Lily’s narrative around the Chinese tradition of 49 days of mourning, marking her search for truth If you love Babel, Dust Child and their likings, then you should read this one too. What a wonderful debut book! Thank you Times Reads for this review copy in exchange of an honest review. After giving them to her sister, who had a disc reader, Wharton received a phone call. “She told me they were Mum’s diaries, which she had started when she moved from Hong Kong to the UK. My sister said I shouldn't read them because they were so heartbreaking, but I wanted to. When I was growing up, Mum was stoic, as was typical of her generation but also because of the racism she had faced when she first came to the UK. I felt I only knew one side of her, and reading them was my way of getting to know her after she died in 2009.’ The book describes the dramatic and sad life of Sook-Yin in 1966 Hong Kong, beginning with her flying to London to study nursing, pushed out of her home by the jealousy and sibling rivalry of a vengeful older brother. Then we follow the suspenseful search of Sook-Yin's British daughter Lily some 30 years later into her mother's early life in Hong Kong.This is a wonderful read for those interested in family, historical, and cultural stories. The writing is vivid, crisp, and clean, with sharp attention to detail. So, is the book autobiographical? ‘A lot of my heart is in it, in terms of experiences. I was never left a small fortune in a will, like Lily, unfortunately! But in terms of my mum’s story, it’s true she moved to the UK, married a British man, and as a biracial family we were targeted for that. And growing up mixed race was very difficult and challenging and a lot of that is in this book. But this isn’t a memoir. I wanted to write something universal about how everybody searches for belonging at some point. It’s a very human need to want to fit in and be loved.' Fresh, funny, infuriating, heartbreaking - Ghost Girl, Banana is sure to be a massive hit. I adored it' Emily Koch
Great Deal 
New Comment