Ghost Music
by An Yu

Captivating, dreamily surreal and contemplative. Song Yan is having an existential crisis having given up her dream to be a concert pianist to settle down and get married. Dissatisfied with her lonely marriage, failing to connect with her Mother-in-law and feeling deeply invalidated, the search is underway for her real identity.
This is a story of secrecy within relationships and how the effects ripple out.

Set in Beijing I was thoroughly captivated by the strong sense of place. I have never been to China, and was delighted to learn so much about what day to day living is like there. I found myself googling food, so many types that I had never heard of. I "Google Map walked" up and down the hutongs and the parks and now I badly want a jianbing.

The writing is beautiful, medium paced and sliding into the surreal, but not so much as to put off this fantasy averse reader. There's imagery that reminded me so much of Mexican Gothic, thus the cover picture. I am going to check out this author's other work because I think she has an interesting voice that asks important questions.

Thank you #NetGalley and #GroveAtlantic for sending me this ARC.