While sharing a wealth of nuanced historical details of everyday life in two very different cultures and in very different time periods, first-time novelist Wharton is able to keep the focus on her characters. As she alternates between the primary voices of Sook-Yin in the past and Lily in the present, the secondary characters are also fully realized and add depth to this rich family saga.
Treading sure-footedly on uneven terrain, author Wharton unpacks chauvinist attitudes about race and nationality from the perspectives of both the colonized and the colonizers, painting, through bitter twists and turns, a picture of diasporic people whose origins are their most valuable MacGuffins.
Despite a few muddled plot points, the pitch-perfect pacing and well-crafted protagonists will keep readers turning the pages. This is a writer to look out for.
