AN ECHO IN THE CITY

When 16-year-old Phoenix Lam is invited to attend a student-led protest, it’s mostly curiosity that compels her to go.

Even though Phoenix has lived in Hong Kong since her family moved back from the U.S. 6 years ago, she’s never felt like she truly belongs. The protesters’ outcry against an extradition bill that would intensify the Chinese government’s pressure on political activists sparks something within Phoenix, and she decides to join them and document the protests through photography. An accidental phone swap introduces her to 17-year-old Kai Zhang, a recent returnee to Hong Kong from Shanghai who is grieving his mother’s recent death. Kai expresses interest in attending protest organizing meetings with Phoenix but doesn’t reveal that he’s a police academy trainee and the son of a police inspector. Despite their differences—naïve, well-meaning Phoenix comes from a wealthy family, while Kai lives with bitter awareness of his poverty—attraction grows between them. The story is narrated by both Phoenix and Kai, and they take readers into the thick of the 2019 Hong Kong protests. Well-developed characterization saves their romance from falling into star-crossed-lovers cliché. Instead, the teens’ relationship highlights questions about class and national identity alongside overarching themes of freedom, duty, and accountability. The prose is lyrical and evocative, describing the characters’ emotional turmoil and the brutal clashes between protesters and police with equal deftness.

A riveting and meaningful coming-of-age story.