#fishbone cinderella

I received a free copy from Del Rey via Netgalley in exchange for a fair review. Release date July 28th, 2026.

I've always had a soft spot for fairy tales, and I was intrigued by the WWII-era Chinese setting of this novel. In Fishbone Cinderella, Ha Yut Ying survives the Japanese occupation only to be sent to live with her neglectful father and his manipulative second wife. In the later timeline, Ha Yut Ying, now a middle-aged woman called Helen, returns to Hong Kong for the first time in decades with her daughter Marigold to revisit her old ghosts.

While the publisher's blurb emphasizes the fairy tale aspects like the family curse and Yut Ying's gold bracelet, the book itself is much more of a historical piece than a fantasy novel. It's about the cruelties of life slowly grinding Yut Ying down, and her daughter Marigold trying to pick up the pieces. The curse elements are more magical realism tinged than fairy tale. Instead of family trauma (or in addition to it...), Yut Ying is cursed to disappear, and Marigold is overwhelmed of the past of every object she touches. It's distinctly allegorical rather than magical.

By far the most vivid bits of the novel are the family trauma. It's brutal to watch Yut Ying transform from a girl with an unhappy life but a bright smile to a brittle old woman, bitterly telling her daughter that if she gets fat no man will want her. After starving her way through the occupation, being denied school by her father's second wife, and fleeing the country by marrying a man she doesn't love, Yut Ying has very little gentleness left for her middle daughter. Perhaps a bit too realistic for my tastes. But while the family dynamics felt viciously real, the two romances were a touch shallow. Both Yut Ying and Marigold's relationships were uninspiring and phoned-in. To be fair, the romances aren't the focus of the plot, but they do motivate major decisions both women make.

Title-Fishbone Cinderella

Author-Elizabeth Lim

Year of Publication-2026

Previously Read-N/A

Summary-When Yut Ying is only 7 years old the Japanese have invaded her village in rural China forcing her family to flee into the mountains. But when she has to return to find medicine for her brother Yut Ying's curse saves her life. Instead of the raiding Japanese soldiers finding and killing her (or worse) she vanishes into nothing. Knowing things aren't going to get easier her mother sends Yut Ying and one of her brothers to Hong Kong to live with their father and his second wife in their aunt's house. For the next eight years Yut Ying is treated as little more than a servant with her opium addled father doing nothing to protect her from her stepmother and aunt's tyranny. She has few comforts. One being a special bracelet from her mother, her younger half sister Lily, and Tommy whose grandfather runs a soy milk business. Yut Ying even models for the company to earn money to run away becoming Helen of Soy. But of course Yut Ying isn't living a fairy tale. Tommy claims to love her, but marries someone else so he can inherit the company and Lily dies of pneumonia. And when Yut Ying now calling herself Helen escapes the house she accidentally leaves her shadow behind. Decades later now living in San Francisco with her family Marigold the second daughter of Helen and Philip begins to wonder if she hallucinated seeing her mother disappear on more than one occasion. With the help of Kenji a one time enemy and now friend Marigold begins to dig into her mother's past and maybe she can undo the family curse.

Pros-Has plenty of Cinderella references, but isn't a retelling. Lots of back and forth in the timeline, but it's hard to get lost. The endpapers are very pretty. It's nice to see this author tackle historical fiction and I hope she does another story like this. Everything comes together at the end with the identity of the bracelet.

Cons-Content Warning: racism and abuse.

oh the heartache in this book of not just romantic love but familial love and multigenerational stories and the trauma

Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim just came out

I'm literally halfway through the book and sobbing my eyeballs out

My heart freaking hurts oh my god