The Phoenix Pencil Company
A granddaughter inherits her family's Shanghai pencil company, and pencils that can be made to give back what they wrote.
Monica’s grandmother once worked in her family’s pencil company in Shanghai, and the pencils carry a strange inheritance: the ability to read what has been written with them. King braids a contemporary Chinese American granddaughter with wartime Shanghai and the choices made under occupation, using a light fantastical device to ask what families choose to record and what they burn.
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Book Club · June 2025
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