Ghost Girl, Banana is an epic yet deeply intimate novel. I was rapt throughout, propelled by Wiz Wharton's taut, immersive prose. She swept me up in Sook-Yin and Lily's mirrored journeys of discovery, spanning decades and continents, but always I could feel the vibration of these women existing in the wider world; their stories are so skilfully shot through with the hum of change." - Kate Sawyer We know that Sook-Yin dies while Lily is still young and that after her death her presence was in many ways erased from their household. Lily, who has always been made to feel like the messy ‘problem’ child, suffers greatly because of this but her sister, whose ‘adulting’ is far more successful, avoids talking about her. Their father has also recently passed away which leaves Lily and Maya completely alone…or so Lily thinks until she receives a letter informing her of an unexpected inheritance. Fulfilling the inheritance’s requirements Lily, unbeknownst to Maya, travels to Hong Kong, where she begins to uncover her family’s secrets and her mother’s connection to the bequeather of her mysterious inheritance. In Hong Kong Lily is overwhelmed, both by her mother’s history and struggles to feel like she belongs when time and again she is reminded of being an outsider, that is a ‘ghost girl’. An intriguing, beautifully written study of the stories we inherit. I loved being in Lily and Sook-Yin’s heads, my heart breaking for them . . . I loved it!’ Nikki May

Sook-Yin leaves HK in 1966 to her (horrible) brother's demand to make something of herself and restore respectability to their family. We follow Sook-Yin's struggles as she tries to develop her life in an alien and often hostile city. Set between the last years of the “Chinese Windrush” in 1966 and Hong Kong’s Handover to China in 1997, a mysterious inheritance sees a young woman from London uncovering buried secrets in her late mother’s homeland in this captivating, wry debut about family, identity, and the price of belonging. But I enjoyed the progression of the relationship between Lily and her sister, Maya. Initially, it was pretty tense, and I did not understand some of Maya's actions, but as secrets came to light and Lily knew what she wanted her life to take her, I liked seeing their interaction and closeness during this time. When Maya came to Hong Kong when she was heavily pregnant, it showed her unconditional love for her young sister; I loved seeing that.The first rule of life is pretending. It was all a charade. A big bluff. The most surprising thing, however, was that as much as these people had deceived her, they seemed to have deceived themselves too. Was this the secret to belonging? Her cynicism turned to curiosity.” I also came to appreciate the dual element of the title, as revealed through the plot, really emphasising and expressing the theme of identity and prejudice both women dealt with.

A story of family, love, redemption and belonging, told with such heart and empathy. Essential and utterly unforgettable' Fiona Scarlett This book started slow for me but it builds momentum throughout until I was racing through it, unable to pit it down until I polished off the second half in one sitting. If you love Babel, Dust Child and their likings, then you should read this one too. What a wonderful debut book! Thank you Times Reads for this review copy in exchange of an honest review.

Three woman who join together to rent a large space along the beach in Los Angeles for their stores—a gift shop, a bakery, and a bookstore—become fast friends as they each experience the highs, and lows, of love. Wiz Wharton’s ‘Ghost Girl, Banana’ arrives at a time when the future of Hong Kong is in flux, and when the long arm of its past should not be forgotten. When we next meet Lily it is 1997 and she is lost in new and not so new ways, navigating doctors and clinics and her mental health and the mess of being adrift in London in the 90s.

In 1997 we learn that Sook-Yin died when Lily was a small child and she has lived in London with her dad and older sister ever since, estranged from all of her mother’s family. When Lily learns that she has been named as a beneficiary in the will of a rich Chinese stranger, she travels to Hong Kong to find out who this man was and how he was connected to her mother. In doing so she connects with her lost cultural identity and uncovers deep secrets about her family. I had a galley of this book for a while and put off reading it, not knowing what it was about but mistakenly thinking it was sad-girl Brit lit. How wrong was I!

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Heartfelt, wry and achingly real, Ghost Girl, Banana marks the stunning debut of a writer-to-watch. And there it was—that wall. Her experiences versus mine, as if she owned that part of history and I could only receive it second hand. Sometimes. Rarely. Never.” At first I was worried the story was going to be all about a 20-something ‘finding herself’, a 20-something who did not seem to be coping with life, making wrong choices at every turn and hurting those around her.

As the story unfolds, family dynamics play out, secrets are revealed, love is lost and found, in ways that resonate across both timelines.

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Discovering family history or secrets is always interesting, and I specifically like this kind of story. This book has a clear premise with the combined stories over decades and countries that explore multiple themes like immigration, belonging, identity, love, and family dynamics. Lily suffered the worst among the two daughter of Sook Yin. Maya, her elder sister was the successful one and Lily feeling like she fall short of expectations lives in gloom and depression, severely shutting herself and her hardship was hard to read sometimes. I applaud her courage for standing up to find the truth, to understand her life better, to seek for the lost connection, to actually wanting to live. This story also highlights on the independence of Hong Kong for being its own country from China. This may be Wiz Wharton's debut novel but I certainly hope it won't be her last. She has an undoubted talent for story telling and even though this was based on her own ancestry it became a novel through an obviously vivid imagination. A gripping and evocative tale of family secrets, courage, adversity and love. Sook-Yin and Lily's stories are beautifully told and truly unforgettable . . . such accomplished storytelling and gorgeous prose. Brilliant' Emma Stonex Wiz Wharton tells the story of Lily (Ghost Girl, one who is bi-racial but not belonging to either race) and her mother, Sook-Yin (Banana because she's only yellow on the outside). Sook-Yin mostly tells the story in the first and second narratives before, and after she died, then we have Lily's description in the present. Soon-Yin was studying in the UK to become a nurse when two things happened to her; Sook-Yin married a "Westerner," and she came into a good fortune that would cause a rift in her family dynamics, leading to jealousy and hatred lasting long after Sook-Yins death. Years later, inheritance to Lily would come about, and she would search for answers to the mystery surrounding her mother in Hong Kong.