AN EVERLASTING BOND

Two long-distance pen pals find they have more in common than they thought when they discover a family secret in Zhang’s YA novel.

Sophie is a high school girl still reeling from the loss of her older sister, Mackenzie. She’s avoided going to parties with her best friend, Lyla, for months, preferring to spend her time locked away in her room reading romance novels or texting her pen pal, Anya, who lives in Shanghai. But Anya hasn’t responded in almost a week, and Sophie is beginning to worry. Anya is going through a difficult time, too; her older sister, Camelia, has gone missing, she’s doing poorly in most of her classes, and now she bears the full weight of her mother’s stifling expectations. After Camelia sends a letter with an address on it, Anya starts skipping classes to search downtown Shanghai for her. Her parents have scheduled every second of Anya’s downtime with extracurricular activities they think will look good on her college application (“There wasn’t one day when she had free time after school”)—however, Anya’s determination eventually results in a lead to her sister’s possible whereabouts. Sophie has a mystery of her own to solve: Her parents have been acting suspiciously ever since Mackenzie’s death. Her world is turned upside down when she overhears them discussing Mackenzie’s true fate—which may be related to Camelia’s. This is an engaging read full of twists and turns set against the backdrop of a family drama. While the sheer number of coincidences can be hard to believe, the friendship between Sophie and Anya is well written and feels fleshed out. The sets of parents (aside from Anya’s overbearing mother) aren’t differentiated enough to set up a compelling contrast. The pacing is serviceable in moving the story along—the narrative works best when setting up cliffhangers and alternating the dual perspectives of Sophie and Anya.

Standard YA fare with a hooky if credulity-straining premise.