‘I never felt ready’: Elizabeth Lim on writing her Chinese grandmother’s story and soy milk
Elizabeth Lim reveals why it took her 10 years to write Fishbone Cinderella about her grandmother’s journey from Hong Kong to San Francisco
New York-based author Elizabeth Lim grew up hearing her grandmother’s stories about Hong Kong in World War II, Guangdong during the Sino-Japanese war and the sweeping immigrant journey that eventually brought their family to American shores. Those ancestral memories form the backbone of her latest novel, Fishbone Cinderella, set to hit shelves on July 28.
Known widely for her young adult high fantasies such as Spin the Dawn (2019) and Six Crimson Cranes (2021), The New York Times bestselling author is now making a deliberate, maturity-driven pivot for her newest novel.
“This book is one that I’ve been wanting to write for probably over a decade now,” Lim says, reflecting on her literary journey. “But I never felt ready.”
What is her latest book, Fishbone Cinderella, about?
Fishbone Cinderella follows two timelines across 1940s Hong Kong and the other in 60s San Francisco, in the United States.
When Japanese soldiers invade her hometown in southern China, Yut Ying escapes by her miraculous powers – turning invisible – and eventually flees to Hong Kong to work at a shoe factory despite harbouring dreams of becoming a singer.
Yut Ying’s daughter, Marigold, later finds out about this power in San Francisco, opening up questions that had shrouded years of fractured love and family secrets.
“Your elders aren’t going to be here forever … and I want to preserve that history that they went through,” Lim says about her novel’s source of inspiration.