The Phoenix Pencil Company

In this dazzling debut novel of love and secret histories, a young woman unearths the story of a lost Shanghai pencil company and a hidden family ability which will alter the path of her life forever.-Wildly inventive - Allison King is a talent to watch- LIZ MOORE, author of The God of the WoodsMonica Tsai spends most days on her computer coding for a program that seeks to connect strangers online. A self-confessed recluse, she finds herself escaping into a digital world, counting the days until she can return home to her beloved grandparents. They are now in their nineties, and she worries about them - especially her grandmother Yun whose memory has begun to fade.Monica has become intent on tracking down her grandmother Yun-s long-lost cousin, Meng, before it-s too late. In her search, Monica connects with a young woman archivist who presents her with a single pencil that holds a clue to a hidden family history. Through this discovery Monica comes to learn of her grandmother-s years i