I am absolutely delighted to share my thoughts on Ghost Girl, Banana, a beautifully crafted debut by @wizwharton 💛. As an huge lover of coming-of-age historical fiction, this novel captivated me with its profound exploration of family dynamics, identity, and what it truly means to belong.

The story intricately weaves the lives of a mother and daughter, with Sook-Yin’s narrative set against the backdrop of the final years of the “Chinese Windrush” in 1966, and her daughter Lily’s tale unfolding during the momentous 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China.

Lily has always struggled with her identity, having lost her mother at a young age and raised British but looking Chinese, often feeling like the titular “Ghost Girl” (a translation of a Chinese insult for biracial people). Lily is thrust into the past when she is unexpectedly named in the will of a powerful Chinese businessman. However, the inheritance comes with a stipulation: she must travel to Hong Kong to claim it. Lily, who only knows about Sook-Yin through the stories told by her seemingly perfect older sister, Maya, embarks on a secret journey to Hong Kong. This trip unravels an emotional and heartbreaking exploration of her family’s history and buried secrets.

In parallel, we trace Sook-Yin’s journey as a young woman from Hong Kong to London, where she is sent to train as a nurse on the other side of the world. As her life in England begins to unfold, she realizes, like many immigrants, that survival is never straightforward.

Wharton’s writing style is both lyrical and moving, painting vivid pictures of the two settings of Hong Kong and London. I read this book gripping and immersive story in just three days, and if I could I knew I would have done it sooner. Her prose is rich with detail, and the alternating timelines are seamlessly woven together, creating a cohesive and compelling narrative and I was equally invested in Sook-Yin and Lily’s journeys.

In addition to its exploration of identity and belonging, this novel unfolds as a rich family saga, delving into the intricate dynamics between mothers and daughters, as well as sibling rivalry.

Ghost Girl, Banana is a wonderful debut novel, and I love how Wharton portrays our universal quest for a place to call home. I eagerly await her next book.

Highly recommend!

A very interesting story of belonging and identity told from alternating viewpoints of a mother and daughter in different decades in both Hong Kong and London. Neither locale is very familiar to me, even as a reader, so I found the settings as fascinating as the family dynamics that propel the story. The author does a particularly good job of bringing Hong Kong to life in the years and days leading up to the handover from Great Britain to China. But all of that is background to two women who are fighting their own way to independence and self awareness. I was captivated.

I absolutely loved this, the author is so skilled in describing places and people I felt I knew every place and every person, likeable or not! I think this would make a brilliant film or mini series, it's such an interesting story with such interesting characters. Please make it happen

I loved this story and the two timelines - which the author goes so effortlessly between. The London and Hong Kong settings are brilliant and the main character, Lily is funny, strong, interesting and you're really rooting for her to get the answers she needs. Have recommended this to lots of people!

Powerful dual timeline novel exploring family dynamics, culture and identity.

Sook-Yin was forced to leave Hong Kong in the 1960s by an overbearing brother, where she trained to be a nurse and married an English man.

Thirty years later, her daughter Lily has been named in the will of a wealthy Chinese stranger. She remembers little of the mother who died when she was a child and, despite her sister's reticence, embarks on a journey to learn more about that side of her identity and heritage.

A wonderful debut.

This generational story was such an easy read because of the wonderful way it was written. It was also harrowing in some places. Some dual timeline stories are hard to follow but this was very good because of the plot. The characters were exceptional and you felt as if you knew them. Thoroughly recommend

A beautifully written family epic, told from the perspective of mother and daughter with 30 years separating their stories.

A beautiful and thought provoking tale split into a mother and daughter’s story. Very compelling and interesting. A part of history I wasn’t aware of so that added to this. Absolutely adored the characters and have bought this for my 2 best friends.

I thought this was a really powerful debut novel. I really loved the dual narrative between mother and daughter throughout and the settings of London and Honk Kong as central locations. Gripping and enthralling.

Ghost Girl, Banana

The novel is told over two timelines. In 1966 Sook-Yin moved from Hong Kong to London to become a nurse. In 1997, we meet Lily Sook-Yin’s daughter who is confronted by a mystery? Why has a stranger in Hong Kong left her a substantial sum of money in his will?
The dual timeline keeps you wanting more at the end of each chapter.
Although when I reached the final chapters, I was torn between reading faster (I wanted to get to the heart of what had happened) and slowing down. This is one of those amazing novels you really don’t want to end because the protagonists are incredibly relatable and likable.
This is a novel about family, identity, love, betrayal and the consequences of the choices we make.
Wharton ties up all the loose ends and reaches a heartbreaking but satisfying conclusion.
It is an absolutely beautifully written debut novel that leaves me looking forward to what more Wiz Wharton has to offer. .

I think I wanted to read this book primarily because of the location of the past timeline. The 1966 and around timeline is based in colonial Hong Kong as well as London, while the 1997 timeline is almost exclusively in Hong Kong.
We have two sisters who are extremely different, not just in temperament but in appearance. One of them resembles their Chinese mother, whom she does not actually have many memories of, while the elder is more like their English father. After the father's passing, contact is made from HK, and a substantial inheritance has been left to the girls. Lily uses this as an opportunity to finally find out things about her mother that she craves.
There are a lot of moving parts to this story. There is the chaos of arriving at a country which was in transition at the time (in 1997), the lack of preparation about what to expect and finally, the confusion about the past since very few who remember are left to talk.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. It has all the parts of dual-timeline narratives that I usually appreciate, but the manipulation by all the men in the narrative is never completely addressed or resolved, making it a futile action to even figure things out this late after all those years.
I did not get the 'feel' that I was looking for when it came to the city itself since it exclusively stayed far away from places I was more familiar with, although the conversation about the metro was a little nostalgic. The inclusion of the protests about the handover also did not fit with the rest of the story, and it should have worked for the complete picture, but it took away from the tension in the main narrative.
I liked the author's writing overall and would recommend this book to people who want to read about these particular times and places.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

completely intrigued by the title and captivated by the story. Families, identity, time and place are all wonderfully addressed in this captivating and memorable tale.

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!

Ghost Girl, Banana is a mother-daughter story set in London and Hong Kong, in a dual timeline from 1966-1977 and in 1997, at the time of the handover of Hong Kong by Britain to China.

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.

Lily Miller (or Li-Li) grew up in London, the misfit daughter of a Hong Kong mother (Sook-Yin, who died when Lily was young) and white English father. When Lily is unexpectedly named as a beneficiary in a will of a wealthy businessman from Hong Kong, Lily sets out on a pilgrimage to Kowloon to discover her mother’s past, what caused Sook-Yin to be exiled to London and ultimately her tragic passing.

With a deft and elegant style, the book addresses biracial identity and racism, and the difficulties women face carving out an existence and a future for their children when the men in their life are worse than useless.

I loved Sook-Yin’s story and her dogged perseverance when everything that could go wrong for her did go wrong. I also loved Lily’s first person narrative, and the way in which she found herself and listened to her inner voice, which others in her life had muted for too long.

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.

The title of the book is derived from two racial slurs: In Hong Kong, Lily is called “gwei mui” or ghost girl, because she doesn't fit the mould of Chinese. Her mother is called “banana” by her family because while she's ethnically Chinese, she is perceived to have become westernised on the inside.

A moving, funny, fresh and intriguing story that many readers will warm to and find relatable. 4/5⭐️

Ghost Girl, Banana was published by @hodderbooks in May and is widely available. Many thanks to the author, publisher and @netgalley for the arc. As always, this is an honest review.

As a former Hong Kong resident, this book really spoke to me and I enjoyed so much about it. Now living in London, I felt I was able to relate to so much of it and also discover a new perspective as well.

A compelling and immersive novel following a young woman uncovering long buried family secrets on a pilgrimage back to the country of her mother's birth. Slightly uneven in execution but highly compelling, exploring themes of identity, belonging, expectations and deceptions..

Wow. This book was vivid, heartfelt and thought-provoking - a study of the complexity of familial relationships and belonging, that addresses so many big and important subjects - not least colonialism and race.

The narrative was deftly-plotted, compelling and beautifully-woven, oscillating between Sook-Yin's struggles in a new land and Lily's mental health difficulties.

It's the kind of writing that makes you want to grab for the highlighter on every page. I'm so glad for the success Wiz has seen with this book and am eagerly awaiting the next!

This is a wonderful debut; beautifully written, a story about family and finding answers. I really liked how the story was written; alternate POV chapters from Lily and Sook-Yin and different timelines. The chapters were nice and short. It worked well and it kept me focused.

I liked how the characters developed as the story unfolds, they’re definitely strong characters, it’s an intriguing storyline and I feel like the two stories just weave perfectly together.

I really liked the authors writing and how detailed everything is, it really did make the story come to life.

I’m definitely looking forward to reading more by this author. Fantastic debut!

This story is told from two perspectives. Sook-yin from a Hong Kong family who moves from her hometown Kowloon to England to be a nurse in disgrace to repair the honour of her family. Sook-yin’s perspective starts in 1966 towards the later years of the Chinese Windrush. Lily is Sook-yin’s youngest daughter who barely remembers her mother who died in an accident in her home town of Kowloon. In 1997 the year that Hong Kong is handed over to China a strange inheritance sends Lily to Kowloon to uncover her families secrets. Lily’s older sister Maya is against the idea of Lily going to Kowloon and insists that they do not need the inheritance but comes across very secretive. What secret is she hiding and will it ruin the sisters relationship.
I liked this book but did find it hard going at times with the chopping and changing in the middle of some chapters and was very confused initially as to the connection between Lily and Sook-yin. It was a heartwarming story though and well worth a read and I would highly recommend it.
Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Uneven execution aside, Ghost Girl, Banana makes for a compelling and immersive spanning decades and continents, exploring identity, belonging, and the tribulations of two women, mother and daughter, as they attempt to survive family expectations and deceptions. Some minor reservations aside, this debut certainly succeeds in establishing Wiz Wharton as an author to watch as her writing is confident and her story is thematically rich. The chapters alternate between Sook-Yin’s one, which takes place in the mid-60s and early 70s, as she leaves Hong Kong behind to work as a nurse in England, and her youngest daughter, Lily, during Hong Kong's Handover to China in 1997.
We know that Sook-Yin dies while Lily is still young and that after her death her presence was in many ways erased from their household. Lily, who has always been made to feel like the messy ‘problem’ child, suffers greatly because of this but her sister, whose ‘adulting’ is far more successful, avoids talking about her. Their father has also recently passed away which leaves Lily and Maya completely alone…or so Lily thinks until she receives a letter informing her of an unexpected inheritance. Fulfilling the inheritance’s requirements Lily, unbeknownst to Maya, travels to Hong Kong, where she begins to uncover her family’s secrets and her mother’s connection to the bequeather of her mysterious inheritance. In Hong Kong Lily is overwhelmed, both by her mother’s history and struggles to feel like she belongs when time and again she is reminded of being an outsider, that is a ‘ghost girl’.

“My mother is from Kowloon.” Over the years I'd evolved into the present tense and used it now by default. I found it more accessible for strangers; people were more amenable to what they expected rather than the thing that might have been true.


In Sook-Yin’s chapters, we follow her as she journeys from Hong Kong to England where despite her best efforts she finds herself having to make the best of unforeseen circumstances that lead to taking a nannying position at a childhood acquaintance's household. Through her ‘employers’ she meets a white British man who promises her a working opportunity that however never comes to fruition. Rather, he pursues her and pressures her into going out with him. Even at a long distance Sook-Yin’s brother continues to berate her and sways their mother’s opinion of her (that she is a failure, a disappointment, good-for-nothing, etc.). Sook-Yin’s reputation and well-being are threatened by an unexpected pregnancy, which leaves her with little choice but to marry Julian. Julian is manipulative, often playing the part of a loving, or inoffensive at least, husband who makes one disastrous financial mistake after the other. They eventually move to Hong Kong where Sook-Yin is reunited with a boy she harbored feelings for, now a wealthy married man, who also happens to be friends with her brother. Sook-Yin’s brother seems determined to make her life hell as he continues to behave appalling towards her, berating her for having married a ‘colonizer’ and for having had children with a white man. His hatred for her is so strong that he seems intent on sowing discord in her marriage.
The story’s setting and sense of time are strikingly rendered, both in Sook-Yin and Lily’s chapters. That we get to follow their respective experiences in England and Hong Kong gives the novel a comparative dimension and it makes us more aware of the similarities and discrepancies in their circumstances and in the kind of opportunities that were available to them. Both are made to feel unwelcome wherever they go: from the racism Sook-Yin experiences once in England to the hostility aimed at her back in Hong Kong for having married a British man (and is derogatorily called a ‘banana’); whereas Lily is biracial, and unlike Maya, who ‘passes’ or at least has attributes that fit in more with Western beauty standards, is often made to feel as if she was an ‘exotic’ attraction.
The storyline did become repetitive towards the middle and the latter half of the novel, as by then we already know the lengths Sook-Yin’s brother will go to in order to make her life hell. Sook-Yin’s husband is awful and I think the story lets him get away with a lot, painting him as injudicious and naive as opposed to a gaslighting exploitative liar. He was gross. Curiously enough Lily, who doesn’t know her parents' marriage or the many ways in which her father manipulated and betrayed her mother, and should therefore in theory have remembered her father fondly or with some level of warmth, affection even barely thinks of him…which is weird given that he died recently. But his existence and death barely make a dent in her narration…which is odd. Her dynamic with Maya and her rich awful husband brought to mind Fleabag, and I wish more could have been done to make these characters more rounded. We are told Lily is a messy disaster but she just doesn’t come across that way. She also sounded strangely old-fashioned and I had to keep reminding myself that she was 25. I just wish she’d had more of a personality but the novel ends up utilizing her as a vehicle through which we can uncover Sook-Yin’s past. This made the novel rather reminiscent of those dual narratives type of books where a daughter or granddaughter comes across a diary, some letters, a photo, or inherits a house that shines a light on some family secrets.

“The first rule of life is pretending. It was all a charade. A big bluff. The most surprising thing, however, was that as much as these people had deceived her, they seemed to have deceived themselves too. Was this the secret to belonging? Her cynicism turned to curiosity.”


I wish that Sook-Yin’s fate and the whole drama involving her brother, her husband, and her childhood friend hadn’t been so drawn out and that maybe we had been given more of Lily and Maya together. In general, I was more interested in the this mother-daughters trio than the male characters, all of whom come across as bland. I think that having Maya's perspective would have benefitted the novel, a triptych structure, a la Francesca Ekwuyasi's Butter Honey Pig Bread, would have allowed for a more nuance exploration of the sisters' relationship. At the end of the day Maya's voice, her whole character, is pushed off page only in favor of an unnecessary 'twist/reveal'.

Still, Wharton's portrayal of Hong Kong and her depiction of Sook-Yin's experiences in England were striking. I also found Wharton's exploration of migration, belonging, self-sacrifice, and survival to be compelling. Other themes receive a more superficial treatment, and this may due in part to simplistic characterisation (especially when it came to 'bad' characters...).
Despite my criticism, I would still recommend this novel, especially for those who are keen on stories where a character embarks on a 'life-changing' journey. I, for one, really look forward to whatever Wharton will publish next.

1966: Sook-Yin is exiled from Kowloon to London with orders to restore honour to her family.

1997: Sook-Yin's 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.

Well - this book certainly is a page turner! The reader gets invested in Sook-Yin's family very quickly and definitely wants to know what happened in the 30 years between the two parts of the book. In that way it 100% delivers what's promised on the tin.

My criticism is that the characters fall a bit flat and appear very one dimensional . I'd also say that the story is not always told in the most intuitive timeline.

If you're into quick reads and / or family mysteries, you'll find this one very enjoyable!