Monday, December 30, 2013

Songs of Willow Frost

Songs of Willow Frost
By Jamie Ford
Ballantine Books, 2013. 331 pgs. Historical Fiction

William Eng is a Chinese-American boy growing up in a Seattle orphanage during the Great Depression. One day while watching a movie with the other boys from the orphanage he sees an actress and is convinced that it is his mother. He soon sets out with his friend Charlotte to try to find the movie star and discover why he was left at the orphanage. Through flashbacks to the life of Liu Song during the 1920's we start to discover the true story of heartbreak and loss.

This book dealt with many heavy subjects like incest, suicide, orphans, and prejudice but in a way that actually made me want to keep reading. Usually I would put down a book like this because I read to escape, but I couldn't stop reading this one. It is fun to once again see a historical glimpse of Seattle.

AL

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