The family of Frank Leong had been living in splendor, but the murder of the Chinese shipping magnate had splintered everything. Reduced to their own devices, they respond to chaotic events in imperial China including the Boxer Rebellion; after which, they move to Hawaii. But even that safe distance does not bring peace: Two decades later, a confession arrives in a letter, opening old wounds and shattering the family even further. A panoramic debut novel worth noticing.
Publishers Weekly
02/23/2015
Wong’s earnest debut novel is a sweeping family saga in the tradition of Amy Tan. Told from multiple points of view and moving back and forth in time over several generations of the Leong family, the story centers on how people remain tied to one another. It opens in Honolulu in 1964 as friends and family gather for Bohai Leong’s funeral. Shocked by Bohai’s unexpected death, his wife, Amy, is still coming to terms with her teenage daughter Theresa’s out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Capable aunt Hong helps manage the day and watches over Bohai’s emotionally crippled mother, Lin. Most of the characters have secrets rooted in the family’s past in Guangdong, China, where Bohai was born in 1909 to a prosperous businessman, Frank, and his concubine, Hailee. After moving to the titular location (a volcano on the outskirts of Honolulu), wife Lin delivers the son, Kaipo, she had long vowed to give to her husband Frank. When Bohai grows into a virtual recluse, Lin decides to find a wife for him. This is where the tension finally ratchets up. Lin’s choice of the lower-class, strong-minded Amy sets in motion a chain of events, including murder, that threaten the Leongs’ stability. While some of the incidents are a bit predictable, Wong perceptively captures her cast of characters and their setting. Agent: Meredith Kaffel, DeFiore and Company. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
[A] lush, vivid, and unpredictable narrative.” — Elle
“Wong will utterly transport you through her breathtaking prose in this impressively crafted story.” — Bustle
“A sweeping historical saga about several generations of the powerful Leong family. Its patriarch, Frank Leong, moved his shipping business from China to Hawaii at the turn of the 20th century and built a dynasty in the islands. His murder decades later throws the family into turmoil and exposes long-buried secrets, and his only grandchild, 18-year-old Theresa, struggles to decipher how the past will shape her present.” — Tampa Bay Times
“An impressive story of romance stretching from early twentieth century China to Hawaii in 1964. . . . In this story of three generations of Chinese immigrants, ancient traditions and family secrets threaten the Leong clan in this captivating story of ill-fated romance set in beautiful island of Oahu.” — Iron Mountain Daily News
“In Diamond Head, Wong has crafted a delicate tower of mystery and history. . . . Wong’s prose is lyrical and nearly poetic. . . . Lovely.” — New York Journal of Books
“A hot summer day is perfect for this sweeping multi-generational family saga which takes the reader from China to Hawaii.” — Book Riot
“Cecily Wong’s lush debut novel hooked me in right away as it slowly unraveled the tangle of secrets the Leong family has kept for decades. Diamond Head is an intricate meditation on what is in our control and what is fate.” — Celeste Ng, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere
“A shimmering tapestry of secrets and betrayals, beautifully told through the eyes of the women of the wealthy Leong family. An eye-opening, poignant read set against the backdrop of Hawaii’s rich history.” — Yangsze Choo, author of The Ghost Bride and The Night Tiger
“[A] rich and compelling debut novel. . . . With keen insight, effused with sadness and hope, Diamond Head is an auspicious debut.” — Gail Tsukiyama, author of The Samurai's Garden and A Hundred Flowers
“Ms. Wong’s first novel is a vivid story of a family’s journey over time. We live and breathe with her characters as we witness history shaping family, and family creating its own history. Diamond Head is a jewel of a saga.” — Rebecca Wells, author of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
“Diamond Head takes the family saga to a new and very high place. . . . Readers will follow the fortunes of this family breathlessly, hungry for more.” — Mary Gordon, author of The Liar's Wife and There Your Heart Lies
“This lyrical novel held my heart captive from its opening scent of hibiscus to its final image of the dark and mighty volcano that bears witness to the rise and fall of one of Hawaii’s most prominent families. . . . A literary heartbreaker of a novel about the ways the heart betrays us, the ways it leads us to the truth.” — Ploughshares
“Wong’s debut novel will hook readers from the first page and not let go until the final tragic secret is revealed. . . . By skillfully weaving a murder mystery into the story, Wong keeps the pace moving, and the twist ending is a surprise. . . . Reading groups and fans of Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club will enjoy exploring Chinese-Hawaiian history and culture with this lovely novel.” — Library Journal
“Wong’s pellucid prose style keeps the pages turning. . . . A promising debut.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Wong’s multigenerational Hawaiian saga of deception and loyalty evocatively captures the tightly controlled worlds of privilege and power.” — Booklist
“A sweeping family saga in the tradition of Amy Tan. . . .Wong perceptively captures her cast of characters and their setting.” — Publishers Weekly
Iron Mountain Daily News
An impressive story of romance stretching from early twentieth century China to Hawaii in 1964. . . . In this story of three generations of Chinese immigrants, ancient traditions and family secrets threaten the Leong clan in this captivating story of ill-fated romance set in beautiful island of Oahu.
Yangsze Choo
A shimmering tapestry of secrets and betrayals, beautifully told through the eyes of the women of the wealthy Leong family. An eye-opening, poignant read set against the backdrop of Hawaii’s rich history.
Bustle
Wong will utterly transport you through her breathtaking prose in this impressively crafted story.
Book Riot
A hot summer day is perfect for this sweeping multi-generational family saga which takes the reader from China to Hawaii.
Elle
[A] lush, vivid, and unpredictable narrative.
Rebecca Wells
Ms. Wong’s first novel is a vivid story of a family’s journey over time. We live and breathe with her characters as we witness history shaping family, and family creating its own history. Diamond Head is a jewel of a saga.
Gail Tsukiyama
[A] rich and compelling debut novel. . . . With keen insight, effused with sadness and hope, Diamond Head is an auspicious debut.
New York Journal of Books
In Diamond Head, Wong has crafted a delicate tower of mystery and history. . . . Wong’s prose is lyrical and nearly poetic. . . . Lovely.
Celeste Ng
Cecily Wong’s lush debut novel hooked me in right away as it slowly unraveled the tangle of secrets the Leong family has kept for decades. Diamond Head is an intricate meditation on what is in our control and what is fate.
Tampa Bay Times
A sweeping historical saga about several generations of the powerful Leong family. Its patriarch, Frank Leong, moved his shipping business from China to Hawaii at the turn of the 20th century and built a dynasty in the islands. His murder decades later throws the family into turmoil and exposes long-buried secrets, and his only grandchild, 18-year-old Theresa, struggles to decipher how the past will shape her present.
Booklist
Wong’s multigenerational Hawaiian saga of deception and loyalty evocatively captures the tightly controlled worlds of privilege and power.
Mary Gordon
Diamond Head takes the family saga to a new and very high place. . . . Readers will follow the fortunes of this family breathlessly, hungry for more.
Ploughshares
This lyrical novel held my heart captive from its opening scent of hibiscus to its final image of the dark and mighty volcano that bears witness to the rise and fall of one of Hawaii’s most prominent families. . . . A literary heartbreaker of a novel about the ways the heart betrays us, the ways it leads us to the truth.
Booklist
Wong’s multigenerational Hawaiian saga of deception and loyalty evocatively captures the tightly controlled worlds of privilege and power.
Library Journal
02/01/2015
Spanning the period from the turn of the 20th century to 1964, Wong's debut novel about three generations of Leong women will hook readers from the first page and not let go until the final tragic secret is revealed. This family's journey from China to Hawaii to become island royalty is told through alternating chapters by fully developed female protagonists who Wong brings to life by making the reader actually care about them. Running through this saga is the fable of the red string of fate that binds true love but can also become knotted and frayed, causing hurt and pain. Each woman—Lin, Amy, and Theresa—chooses her fate, either through her heart or her mind, and must pay the cost, sometimes losing all that is important in the long run. VERDICT By skillfully weaving a murder mystery into the story, Wong keeps the pace moving, and the twist ending is a surprise. The only disappointment is the abrupt conclusion that is wrapped up too neatly and quickly, leaving readers wanting more. Reading groups and fans of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club will enjoy exploring Chinese-Hawaiian history and culture with this lovely novel.—Marianne Fitzgerald, Severna Park H.S., MD
Kirkus Review
2015-01-21
The fate and fortunes of a Sino-Hawaiian family are altered by bad romantic choices.Wong's first novel begins as members of the Leong family, the wealthiest and most influential clan on the island of Oahu, converge for a funeral in 1964. From there, the story, related by various family members, branches out to cover six decades and three generations as the Leong family curse takes shape. In 1900, Hong, a widowed refugee from the Boxer Rebellion, treks miles to find refuge in the home of her brother-in-law, Frank Leong, a shipping magnate. The family migrates to Hawaii, and Leong builds a lavish mansion in the shadow of the volcano Diamond Head for his beloved wife, Lin, and their son, Bohai. Amy Chan, 20-year-old eldest daughter of an impoverished photographer and his harried wife, is working in her father's shop when Pearl Harbor and the advent of World War II improve the family's prospects. Soldiers are clamoring for photo portraits before being shipped out, and Henry, Amy's forgotten childhood sweetheart, is among them. The two become engaged, but all that changes when the Leongs hire the Chans to photograph their family. Lin seizes on the fetching Amy as the solution for her shy, studious son Bohai's confirmed bachelorhood. (He is now 33.) Amy's mother convinces her that marrying Henry would be a mistake: She herself had married for love and now lived in a basement with a feckless husband and Amy's nine siblings. After receiving an ambiguous letter from Henry, who is stationed overseas, Amy is persuaded to marry Bohai. Her decision triggers a series of disasters for the Leong family. The enigmatic Hong and Amy's daughter, Theresa, 18 and pregnant out of wedlock, act as bellwethers and interpreters of the family's downfall. The novel's many diversions and diffuse focus make for an unwieldy structure that cannot support the explosive closing revelations. Nevertheless, Wong's pellucid prose style keeps the pages turning. Although it reaches for an inevitability it doesn't achieve, a promising debut.
