Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2023
352 pages
Genre: Romance
Publication Information
Two star-crossed teenagers fall in love during the Hong Kong protests in this searing contemporary novel about coming-of-age in a time of change.
Sixteen-year-old Phoenix knows her parents have invested thousands of dollars to help her leave Hong Kong and get an elite Ivy League education. They think America means big status, big dreams, and big bank accounts. But Phoenix doesn't want big; she just wants home. The trouble is, she doesn't know where that is…until the Hong Kong protest movement unfolds, and she learns the city she's come to love is in danger of disappearing.
Seventeen-year-old Kai sees himself as an artist, not a filial son, and certainly not a cop. But when his mother dies, he's forced to leave Shanghai to reunite with his estranged father, a respected police officer, who's already enrolled him in the Hong Kong police academy. Kai wants to hate his job, but instead, he finds himself craving his father's approval. And when he accidentally swaps phones with Phoenix and discovers she's part of a protest network, he finds a way to earn it: by infiltrating the group and reporting their plans back to the police.
As Kai and Phoenix join the struggle for the future of Hong Kong, a spark forms between them, pulling them together even as their two worlds try to force them apart. But when their relationship is built on secrets and deception, will they still love the person left behind when the lies fall away?
"The prose is lyrical and evocative, describing the characters' emotional turmoil...A riveting and meaningful coming-of-age story." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"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." —Publishers Weekly
"A stellar debut" —Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of The Serpent King
"Read this; you'll walk away changed." —Grace D. Li, bestselling author of Portrait of a Thief
"Absolutely phenomenal." —Zoulfa Katouh, award-winning author of As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
"A sweeping, vivid window into a singularly intense moment in time." —Xixi Tian, author of This Place Is Still Beautiful
This information about An Echo in the City was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
K. X. Song is a diaspora writer with roots in Hong Kong and Shanghai. An Echo in the City is her debut novel. Visit her online at kxsong.com, or on Instagram @ksongwrites.
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