An Echo in the City
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST YA BOOK OF 2023
WINNER OF THE FREEMAN AWARD 2023
‘Read this; you'll walk away changed.' Grace D. Li
Falling in love was never part of the plan.
SUMMER, 2019
When Phoenix attends a protest rally with her older brother, it ignites a fire in her she didn’t know she had. The island city she loves is disappearing and she’s determined to capture the moment with her camera.
Kai is training to be a policeman and thinks the protesters are spoilt and privileged. He hopes to earn recognition at the Academy by going undercover and infiltrating their network.
Phoenix and Kai accidentally swap phones at a student protest encounter. Sparks fly, drawing them together even as they stand on different sides of the struggle. But when love is built on a lie, what chance does it have to survive?
‘I could not put it down and haven’t stopped thinking about it since I finished. A must read.' Susan Lee, author of Seoulmates
‘An honest and searing portrait of the Hong Kong protests.’ Axie Oh, author of The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea
'A richly detailed and humane teen romance.' Suzi Feay
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
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.
