Songs of Willow Frost

I was lucky enough to snag another ARC (Advance Reader Copy) through librarything.com's Early Reviewer program (thank you, libarything!). This one is a new novel by Jamie Ford, author of HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET.

HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET has been on my radar for a while. I know it has been popular with customers who bought it and really liked it. It just hasn't made it quite as far as my nightstand yet.

     

Even though I hadn't read HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET, I requested SONGS OF WILLOW FROST, going into it with an open mind. Not having read his first book, I didn't have expectations about what this second book should be.

     

In it, we first meet William, a twelve year old Chinese boy living in an orphanage in Seattle in the early 1930s. Charlotte is his closest friend, a beautiful, strawberry-blond, blind girl. As with many of the children, both of them knew a little bit about their parents. Charlotte knew that her mother had died and her father was still alive. William had memories of his mother from when he was younger, but didn't know what happened to her. Was she alive? And if she was, why did she give him up? Would she come back for him? Could the beautiful Chinese actress he saw onscreen actually be his mother?

William searches for answers about his mother as he and Charlotte also try to deal with what Charlotte finds out about her father. These quests are made harder by the strict environment of the orphanage.

I quite liked this. I was engaged with William's struggle and search for his mother, as well as his friendship with Charlotte. Ford painted a rich picture of Seattle in the early part of the twentieth century, especially the Chinese culture in that time and place.

Now I am even more interested in reading HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET!

Have you read HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET? Are you looking forward to SONGS OF WILLOW FROST (which will be released September 10!)?

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