Ghost Girl, Banana

Wiz Wharton £14.99 HODDER & STOUGHTON

SET in both the UK and Hong Kong, Ghost Girl, Banana is an extraordinary, poignant and enchanting tale about finding your identity and the true cost of belonging.

This meticulously constructed dual-timeline novel tells the stories of Sook-yin and her daughter Lily.

In 1966, Sook-yin is exiled from Kowloon to London with orders to restore honour to her family. As she strives to fit into a world that does not understand her, she realises that survival will mean carving out a destiny of her own. In 1997, Sook-yin’s daughter Lily can barely remember the mother she lost as a small child.

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 her inheritance.

She soon learns that the secrecy around her heritage has deep roots, and good fortune comes at a price.

The novel – which was written by the Highland-based author after the posthumous discovery of her own mother’s immigration diaries – is stunning, intriguing and compelling in equal turns.

Wharton’s prose is both lyrical and heart-wrenching. Her vivid descriptions of life in Kowloon and London bring both places to life, completely immersing us in different worlds and different time frames.

Giving two characters equal billing in any novel can be a tough thing to pull off, but Wharton pulls it out of the bag and then some.

Her intimate portrayals of Sook-yin and Lily make us care deeply about both women, and we root for them as they each grapple with their identities and feelings of not belonging.

Heartbreakingly beautiful and yet still full of hope, Ghost Girl, Banana is an incredible story that will stay with readers long after the last page.

“Secret pilgrimage to discover her identity” lost