Ghost Girl, Banana tells the story of Sook-Yin, who is sent away to England by her family in the 1960s, and her daughter Lily, who returns to Hong Kong for the first time since childhood when a mysterious inheritance comes to light. What unfolds is an atmospheric, suspenseful family drama, plotting the years leading to Sook-Yin's untimely death, and Lily's attempts to find connection with her mother's story, her roots, and her elder sister.

I loved the character of Sook-Yin. She puts up with a lot from her completely useless husband, and is resourceful right to the end.

The writing is beautiful too - "Judging by the red of the trees the picture had been taken in autumn and like everything viewed from the past there was a terrible inevitability about it, the sense that the moment had gone and could never be recovered or undone."

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and #Netgalley for a proof copy of #GhostGirlBanana

What a beautiful debut novel from Wiz Wharton. The novel has a split timeline following Lily in 1997 and her mother Sook-Yin from 1966 when she is forced to move to London from Hong Kong.
Lily is her mid-twenties and having battled with her mental health for many years, her life is beginning to stagnate. She received a letter stating she is a benefactor of a wealthy businessman in Hong Kong, her mother's homeland. Having lost her mother at a young age, and her father and sister shutting down any discussion of the same, this offers Lily the opportunity to connect with and unravel her mother's past.
Sook-Yin leaves HK in 1966 to her (horrible) brother's demand to make something of herself and restore respectability to their family. We follow Sook-Yin's struggles as she tries to develop her life in an alien and often hostile city.
The path of both mother and daughter mirror each other beautifully and the battles faced by dual heritage families in 1960s London and a daughter of dual heritage in a tense Hong Kong during the 1997 handover.
The author's writing style is stunning and immersive and pulls you along through Lily and Sook Yin's stories.
Ghost Girl, Banana will be a must read for Summer 2023
This is an honest review in exchange for a NetGalley ARC

ThIS debut by Wiz Wharton is truly super! Incredible writing - with the two different timelines and cross cultural references. The cast of characters aware all very real and the two protagonists were exceptional.

The book was very well paced and for me, completely riveting. Highly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers, Hodder & Stoughton , for the ARC.

Excellent read.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publishers for letting me read an advance copy of this book.

Wow wow wow. Brilliant characters, gripping story, moving… the works. Loved it! This is going to be a big hit in 2023.

As someone who has lived in Hong Kong, I was captivated by this story! Loved all the references to HK food, language and customs, and how the HK people interacted. It was a very realistic story of how the 2 cultures see each other and the differences between them whilst telling a story of the family and all the difficult times they went through. Secrets and lies and miscommunication made for a very interesting story. My only question (as a Hong Kong resident for many years) is why did the author always refer to herself as staying or coming back to or being in Kowloon high is an area in HK but not the country? Just a little confused. Loved the book!

This unusual, challenging novel opens with an account of four-year-old Lily, en route to London, who is looking through an airplane window at the British countryside that unfolds below her. Several years later, we encounter Lily, now a young Londoner in the late 1990s, whose mental health is fragile. Her young adult story is alternated with recollections of her mother Sook-Yin’s life in the same city some thirty years earlier. Both women suffer from societal prejudices: Because she married an Englishman, Sook-Yin, a Hong Konger, is referred to as a ‘banana’ who is yellow on the outside but white on the inside; meanwhile her daughter Lily is called a ‘ghost girl’ when she embarks on a trip to Hong Kong. That the fates of these two women are inextricably linked is therefore already suggested in the novel's title. Underpinning the big themes of colonialism and political upheaval, race and class, memory and intergenerational trauma are frequent allusions to familial matters, and lots of subtle, multisensory descriptions of London and Hong Kong. A wondrous, unusual, highly readable novel that deserves a wide readership. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the free ARC I received that allowed me to produce this unbiased book review.

As ever in history, it is through individual human stories that we can trace the fate of nations. It is also how we come to see ourselves.

Wiz Wharton’s ‘Ghost Girl, Banana’ arrives at a time when the future of Hong Kong is in flux, and when the long arm of its past should not be forgotten.

The novel is rendered in two timelines. In 1997, we meet Lily who is confronted by a mystery - why has a stranger in Hong Kong left her a substantial sum of money in his will? 1997 is of course a pivotal moment in the history of Hong Kong, the year the one-time British colony was handed back to China. The last significant British overseas territory, it was and is an economic powerhouse; and the Handover marked the political severing of a link that had lasted 156 years.

Such links run deep in this book, threading through the many families whose experiences spread between Hong Kong and the UK over many decades. Immigration into the UK particularly ramped up during the 1960s, and in the novel’s second timeline we find out how Lily’s mother, Sook-Yin, is exiled by her family, made to travel to the UK on a one-way ticket, and how her life unfurls.

The stories of both women are cleverly intertwined, told with compassion, wit and an appreciation for the random complexity of family relationships. Their experiences are often parallel, separated in time yet complimentary, and as the action moves between the UK and Hong Kong and back again, the reader too encounters sudden immersions in different, sometimes difficult, cultural experiences.

Wharton’s gift for a quotable line lights up every page, making this a visually stunning read (‘Roads as thin as noodles flashed past in a blur of grime…’) as well as a deep dive into the psychology of the many colourful characters, their motivations, hopes, dreams and dilemmas. As such, it’s a very humane work that emphasises joy, love, light and laughter as much as it reveals the shifting sands of racism, intimidation, hardship and indifference.

The novel contains many rich and powerful themes, but the one that struck me most was connection. The shared paths of the two main characters; the link between past and present; the patterns we repeat without knowing it, and the secrets we carry. Also, the shared past of two nations and the people who endured - finding the way when there was one, or making a way when there wasn’t.

‘Ghost Girl, Banana’ is a beautifully written, intelligent novel of two women navigating a brave new world to find the answers they need, then standing by their decisions and living with their discoveries. ‘I had lived through other moments like this – that feeling of standing on the precipice of something already set in motion that I couldn’t see past or take back…’

It is sure to be a highlight of 2023.

With thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the ARC.

A gripping historical and intergenerational mystery! I loved reading both points of views and how they intersected with each other, until reaching the end point. Wharton's writing really transports you to Hong Kong!

Wow what a twist at the end of this book! The characters were so engaging and I loved the short snappy chapters which made me want to read on to get back to that characters story

A fascinating, heartfelt story, beautifully told. The setting and characters were richly brought to life and I liked how the central mystery was carefully unravelled across both time strands. I'd definitely recommend Ghost Girl, Banana.

A lovely family drama. Maya and Lily are sisters, the children of a Hong Kong Chinese mother and English father. Sook-Yin, their mother, died in Kowloon when the children were small, and the sisters returned to England to be brought up by their father. Maya has always been protective of Lily, the younger sister, and tries to shield her from the family history. Lily receives notice of an unexpected inheritance but has to travel to Hong Kong to receive it. She takes the opportunity to find out more about her mother's life and family history. Lily has to become more resilient to meet the challenges she finds there.
Alongside Maya and Lily's story, we go back to Sook-Yin's story, her family, friends and lovers. Sook-Yin is a feisty but pragmatic character. I felt great sympathy for all her hardships, and the way she still tried to make a better life. A sad, but lovely story. Recommended.

Mixed race marriage, disappointed lovers, children and misunderstandings, this is a two fold story of the generational pull of displacement and cultural differences. A generation leaving questions about allegiances, family ties and unhappy marriages, and a mysterious large gift in the will of someone unknown to two daughters of a mixed marriage. The story takes us through thirty years of unanswered questions, lies and displaced families in England and Hong Kong.

A story of family love and a woman who seeks redemption for her past. How does her daughter, Lily fit into the story. Why is she being left a bequest in the will of a Chinese multi millionaire?
This is a story of cultural integration and the struggle to belong. Loved it.

I knew from the first page of Ghost Girl, Banana that I was going to fall for this book in a big way. This is when we first meet Lily, as four-year-old girl in red sandals who is looking down through an aeroplane window at a ‘Blue Peter landscape’ of England below. Along with her sister, she is returning to London, unbearably bereft.
When we next meet Lily it is 1997 and she is lost in new and not so new ways, navigating doctors and clinics and her mental health and the mess of being adrift in London in the 90s.
Lily’s story alternates with that of her mother, Sook-Yin, who came to London from Hong Kong in 1966 and when a letter about a mysterious inheritance sets Lily on a path to Hong Kong on the eve of the Handover, Lily’s and her mother’s stories begin to converge in compelling, heart-breaking ways.
I found Sook-Yin’s story incredibly poignant; it’s an intimate portrait that gives a voice to other women of the Chinese Windrush generation – but I think will also resonate with the experiences of women from other marginalised communities, before 1966 and ever since.
The intricate plot is brilliantly brought to life, but for me it’s also the beauty of the writing that shines out. Whether describing the Hong Kong streets where the air is ‘a soup of clove oil and talcum’ or a lunch in London where ‘the brume of vegetables boiled to surrender hung heavy over the table’, you’re right there with Lily or Sook-Yin.
This is an expertly woven story about how guilt and grief can tear apart a family and then the slow, painful rebuilding of selves and bonds. Ultimately, it’s a celebration of love and dual heritages.
It’s a book I feel lucky to have been able to read as a proof but I’ll be buying it too because this one to treasure and hold on to.

I really wanted to enjoy this book and it had a promising start, telling the story of two generations and their journey to self-identity. However, about a quarter of the way through I found myself losing interest. It was a very protracted story and I stopped being able to engage with it completely halfway through. But I appreciate the publisher providing me with access to this ARC.

An exceptional debut, and probably the best book I've read for years.

Wiz Wharton's debut novel is equal parts heartbreaking and heart-warming. The dual timeline follows Lily and Sook-Yin as they uncover family secrets and personal truths, set around 1960s London and 1990s Hong Kong, just before the handover.

It's a twisty, page-turner of a novel but one that flows with such beautiful, evocative writing and nuance that the reader is carried along effortlessly. Strong, solid voices from two engaging leading ladies, mystery wrapped up in history and family drama - Ghost Girl, Banana has everything you could wish for in a novel. Utterly sublime.

I really enjoyed this book which is packed with drama. It is historical fiction which is well researched and I thought it was well written, with interesting characters and fantastic descriptions. I loved the themes of racism and colonialism and thought the story was a very realistic family drama. My sincere thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest unbiased review.

An unusual title for a very interesting book. As the story unfolds the meaning of the title is explained. Moving between England and Hong Kong, back in time and present day took a bit of keeping up with. So many themes are explored as part of telling a story. I really enjoyed this book.

This is a stunning debut novel. Beautiful emotive writing and a clever dual timeline narrative that explores the nature of how our heritage affects generations to come.