June Hayward is a successful Yale graduate and aspiring novelist. She’s also a plagiarist.
It all starts when June’s close friend and best-selling author, Athena Liu, chokes to death on a pandan pancake. June is the only one to witness her tragic death, yet her priorities lie elsewhere.
Somewhere, hidden amongst her dead friend’s belongings, is the nearly complete manuscript for a book nobody but June seems to know about.
June’s short on inspiration. Her latest releases were all misses, and the bookstore staff are beginning to pity her when her author signings attract not even a single fan. And if Athena’s dead, who else is going to complete the story?
It’s the opportunity of a lifetime – staring her right in the face with her only obstacle being her ethnicity, and maybe her moral conscience. But after she steals the manuscript from the crime scene, it became clear to me that she lacks one.
Athena’s novel is deeply personal, drawing on her family history and detailing the struggles, contributions, and true stories of Chinese labourers in WWI, much of which have been erased from history.
It’s perfect, but June can’t publish it just yet.
Publishers think her name sounds too white for such a work, suggesting she rebrand herself under the pen name “Juniper Song” to appear authentic. June becomes Juniper, and she edits Athena’s work to make it more ‘palatable’. But ironically, seeing this unfold made me feel queasy.
June Hayward is not a likeable character, and I think this is what makes the story so intriguing. We are placed in her head as she justifies one evil act after another. She convinces both herself and others that what she’s doing is acceptable. This book will keep you on your toes, desperate for more while simultaneously praying for the narrator’s downfall.
-Rori, RRL
