First Lines Friday is a weekly feature for book lovers created by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines? Here’s how to join in:
- Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page.
- Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first.
- Finally… reveal the book!
Today’s lines are from a 2026 fantasy that’s been on my TBR for a few months now:
Marigold Yuen used to think she had a knack for fixing things. C’s in chemistry, car lockouts, and tangled cassette tapes, even ankle sprains — every aunty north of Ashby Avenue knew to come to her for a miracle repair.
But at twenty-four, she had learned that there were two things beyond her skill: the heart she’d broken, for one. Then there was her mother.
So what’s the book?
Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim
Release date: July 23, 2026
436 pages
Synopsis:
A mother and daughter must break their family’s curse through trials of war and immigration, love, loss, and redemption in this “enchanting multi-generational tale” (People) with a shimmer of magic, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Forgery of Fate.
1940s Hong Kong
When Japanese soldiers invade her hometown, Ha Yut Ying makes an unlikely escape—by turning invisible. But her miraculous survival is only the beginning. After the war is over, she’s sent to Hong Kong to live with her distant father and glamorous stepmother, who end her dreams of becoming a singer and turn her into the family’s servant. As the years pass, Yut Ying learns the hard truths of betrayal and ambition, of forbidden love and devastating loss, and discovers that sometimes the only way to endure is to disappear.
1960s San Francisco
Marigold has always had a knack for uncovering secrets, but nothing prepares her for the day she accidentally witnesses her mother vanish before her eyes. The moment fractures their bond, leaving questions that shadow her entire childhood. But when her mother’s condition suddenly deteriorates, Marigold is convinced she’s the only person who can save her. To do so, she must journey into the secrets her mother never shared and uncover the tragic, fairytale-tinged history their family has fought to forget.
A story of mothers and daughters, the scars they inherit and the magic that binds them, Fishbone Cinderella is a tender and enchanting exploration of what it means, at last, to be seen.
I’ve read such excellent reviews, and I’m eager to dive in! Have you read this book? And if not, does this sound like something that might appeal to you?
Happy Friday! Wishing everyone a great weekend!
I’d love to read this too! The opening lines are promising😁