NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From Jamie Ford, author of the beloved Hotel on the Corner of Bitter
and Sweet, comes a much-anticipated second novel. Set against the
backdrop of Depression-era Seattle, Songs of Willow Frost is a
powerful tale of two souls--a boy with dreams for his future and a woman
escaping her haunted past--both seeking love, hope, and forgiveness.
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Twelve-year-old William Eng, a Chinese American boy, has lived at
Seattle's Sacred Heart Orphanage ever since his mother's listless body
was carried away from their small apartment five years ago. On his
birthday--or rather, the day the nuns designate as his birthday--William
and the other orphans are taken to the historical Moore Theatre, where
William glimpses an actress on the silver screen who goes by the name of
Willow Frost. Struck by her features, William is convinced that the
movie star is his mother, Liu Song.
Determined to find Willow and prove that his mother is still alive,
William escapes from Sacred Heart with his friend Charlotte. The pair
navigate the streets of Seattle, where they must not only survive but
confront the mysteries of William's past and his connection to the
exotic film star. The story of Willow Frost, however, is far more
complicated than the Hollywood fantasy William sees onscreen.
Shifting between the Great Depression and the 1920s, Songs of Willow
Frost takes readers on an emotional journey of discovery. Jamie Ford's
sweeping novel will resonate with anyone who has ever longed for the
comforts of family and a place to call home.
Praise for Songs of Willow Frost
"If you liked Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, you're going to
love Songs of Willow Frost. . . . tender, powerful, and deeply
satisfying."--Lisa Genova
"[A] poignant tale of lost and found love."--Tampa Bay Times
"Arresting . . . [with] the kind of ending readers always hope for,
but seldom get."--The Dallas Morning News
"[An] achingly tender story . . . a tale of nuance and
emotion."--The Providence Journal
"Ford crafts [a] beautiful, tender tale of love transcending the sins
people perpetrate on one another and shows how the strength of our
primal relationships is the best part of our human nature."--Great
Falls Tribune
"Remarkable . . . likely to appeal to readers who enjoy the
multi-generational novels of Amy Tan."--Bookreporter
"Jamie Ford is a first-rate novelist, and with Songs of Willow Frost
he takes a great leap forward and demonstrates the uncanny ability to
move me to tears."--Pat Conroy
"With vivid detail, Jamie Ford brings to life Seattle's Chinatown during
the Depression and chronicles the high price those desperate times
exacted from an orphaned boy and the woman he believes is his mother.
Songs of Willow Frost is about innocence and the loss of it, about
longing, about the power of remembered love."--Nancy Horan, author of
Loving Frank
"Ford's boundless compassion for the human spirit, in all its strengths
and weaknesses, makes him one of our most unique and compelling
storytellers."--Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew's Last
Stand
