Bound To Stay Bound

Booklist - 02/15/2023 Struggling single-handedly in the wake of her grandmother’s death to care for her increasingly abstracted wai gong (grandfather), Scottish Chinese orphan Lizzie finds herself undertaking a personal “journey to the west.” Her grandmother has (posthumously) left, for Lizzie’s twelfth birthday, a pair of tickets to a tea dance at the elegant Blackpool Tower Ballroom—­the British hall where she met Lizzie’s grandfather—and so Lizzie and her grandfather embark. Chan infuses this warm and spirited road trip with references to Lizzie’s cultural background (with light but pointed doses of racist bullying and fat shaming thrown in), plus an inclusive supporting cast. While the author also shoehorns in unexpected help from a matronly motorcycle gang and several other well-timed miracles to get her travelers from Glasgow to their destination, readers aren’t likely to mind, as the suspenseful whirl of misadventures leads to a thoroughly dazzling climax on the dance floor. Some UK specificities permeate the text, especially in a final plot point, but this warm family story will still resonate this side of the pond. - Copyright 2023 Booklist.