An Echo in the City

May 15, 2023
Two teens navigate interpersonal issues and budding romance amid civil unrest in Song’s affecting debut, set at the height of 2019 Hong Kong protests against the Chinese extradition bill. To avoid tension surrounding her parents’ recent divorce, 16-year-old Phoenix “Nix” Lam accompanies her older brother to a student protest, which sparks her passion for justice and compels her to use her photography skills to document the movement and raise awareness. Meanwhile, 17-year-old Zhang Kai En has recently relocated from Shanghai to Hong Kong to live with his father after his mother’s death. Though Kai dreams of becoming an artist, he joins the police academy to prove himself to his taciturn father, a respected inspector with the Political Tactical Unit. After accidentally swapping phones at a restaurant, Nix and Kai become fast friends, and Nix invites Kai to get involved in the movement. Eager to get ahead at the academy, Kai withholds his status as a trainee from Nix and uses her involvement to infiltrate the organizing meetings. Song thoughtfully depicts Nix’s and Kai’s economic disparity and initially opposing ideals via their uniquely developed alternating POVs, providing an unflinching depiction of two teens living through a fraught period in history. Ages 14–up. Agent: Lauren Spieller, Triada US.

June 1, 2023
Grades 9-12 Two teenagers on opposite sides of the Hong Kong protests collide in Song's debut. Phoenix's parents want her to go to an Ivy League university in the U.S., but she wants to stay in Hong Kong. At first accidentally drawn into the protests through her brother's new girlfriend, she becomes aware of and passionate about the threat to her home that her privileged life has previously protected her from. Kai hates his job as a trainee officer at the police academy and dreams of being an artist instead, but he also craves his strict and distant father's approval.When Kai unexpectedly meets Phoenix and discovers her involvement in the protests, he has to make a choice between making his father proud or helping the girl he's growing to love. Although it takes a few chapters for the plot to pick up, once the story gains steam, readers will be drawn in by the complex characters and relationships. This book gives a tense and riveting glimpse into the lives of two teenagers in very different worlds.

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July 1, 2023
In this page-turning drama, two teens from different backgrounds forge a brief romantic connection amid the tumultuous 2019 Hong Kong anti-government protests. Phoenix Lam, sixteen, comes from a wealthy shipping family. Zhang Kai En, seventeen, an amateur painter who has been living in Shanghai, returns to Hong Kong after his mother's death to reunite with his estranged father and enroll in the police academy. The two protagonists meet by chance at a restaurant and connect after they accidentally swap cellphones. Apolitical Phoenix follows her brother into protesting. Kai joins their student group while secretly undermining their efforts. Tension builds as the teens grow closer, peaceful protests turn deadly, and Kai's betrayal is discovered. The novel succeeds in using the lens of young love in an undercover thriller to capture a significant historical moment. Song does a strong job with her vivid descriptions of the cosmopolitan city in peaceful moments and in realistic, chaotic protest scenes, including examples of police and protester violence. She also manages the difficult balancing act of exploring various characters' viewpoints on the China/Hong Kong political situation with nuance, whether they see the pro-democracy protests as necessary, destructive, or futile. In her author's note, Song emphasizes that her novel is "not representative of the entire Hong Kong population...there is a vast range of perspectives." A short list of recommended nonfiction books and documentaries is also appended. Michelle Lee

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

August 1, 2023

Gr 7 Up-After tagging along with her older brother to a protest, Nix literally bumps into Kai, and they accidentally switch phones. When they switch them back, she invites him to come to the next protest planning meeting, not knowing that Kai is in the police academy. As the protests and their relationship heat up, Nix questions her future, while Kai struggles with his loyalties and his betrayals of Nix and their friends. Set against the backdrop of Hong Kong's 2019 protest movement against the Extradition Treaty, Song's debut thoughtfully examines class and belonging. Nix spent six years living in the United States and is unsure if she can call Hong Kong her home. Kai just moved from Shanghai after the death of his mother and faces anti-mainland prejudice. Both struggle with their relationships with their parents as they fight to figure out what home is, and how to keep it. Told in alternating perspectives, Song's novel excels at seamlessly explaining many of the political issues and different viewpoints to those unfamiliar. VERDICT Full of action and romance, this page-turning read, bittersweet but hopeful, lingers. Recommended for most YA collections.-Jennifer Rothschild

Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 1, 2023
When 16-year-old Phoenix Lam is invited to attend a student-led protest, it's mostly curiosity that compels her to go. Even though Phoenix has lived in Hong Kong since her family moved back from the U.S. 6 years ago, she's never felt like she truly belongs. The protesters' outcry against an extradition bill that would intensify the Chinese government's pressure on political activists sparks something within Phoenix, and she decides to join them and document the protests through photography. An accidental phone swap introduces her to 17-year-old Kai Zhang, a recent returnee to Hong Kong from Shanghai who is grieving his mother's recent death. Kai expresses interest in attending protest organizing meetings with Phoenix but doesn't reveal that he's a police academy trainee and the son of a police inspector. Despite their differences--na�ve, well-meaning Phoenix comes from a wealthy family, while Kai lives with bitter awareness of his poverty--attraction grows between them. The story is narrated by both Phoenix and Kai, and they take readers into the thick of the 2019 Hong Kong protests. Well-developed characterization saves their romance from falling into star-crossed-lovers clich�. Instead, the teens' relationship highlights questions about class and national identity alongside overarching themes of freedom, duty, and accountability. The prose is lyrical and evocative, describing the characters' emotional turmoil and the brutal clashes between protesters and police with equal deftness. A riveting and meaningful coming-of-age story. (author's note, further reading and viewing) (Fiction. 13-18)

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July 1, 2023
In this page-turning drama, two teens from different backgrounds forge a brief romantic connection amid the tumultuous 2019 Hong Kong anti-government protests. Phoenix Lam, sixteen, comes from a wealthy shipping family. Zhang Kai En, seventeen, an amateur painter who has been living in Shanghai, returns to Hong Kong after his mother's death to reunite with his estranged father and enroll in the police academy. The two protagonists meet by chance at a restaurant and connect after they accidentally swap cellphones. Apolitical Phoenix follows her brother into protesting. Kai joins their student group while secretly undermining their efforts. Tension builds as the teens grow closer, peaceful protests turn deadly, and Kai's betrayal is discovered. The novel succeeds in using the lens of young love in an undercover thriller to capture a significant historical moment. Song does a strong job with her vivid descriptions of the cosmopolitan city in peaceful moments and in realistic, chaotic protest scenes, including examples of police and protester violence. She also manages the difficult balancing act of exploring various characters' viewpoints on the China/Hong Kong political situation with nuance, whether they see the pro-democracy protests as necessary, destructive, or futile. In her author's note, Song emphasizes that her novel is "not representative of the entire Hong Kong population...there is a vast range of perspectives." A short list of recommended nonfiction books and documentaries is also appended.

(Copyright 2023 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)