The Phoenix Pencil Company

King’s powerful debut blends magical realism, family history, and the power of storytelling in a multigenerational tale of memory and identity. College freshman Monica Tsai is caught between her rigorous computer science studies program and caring for her grandmother, Yun, who has Alzheimer’s. When Monica stumbles upon a family secret—pencils made by her grandmother’s company in Shanghai during WWII possess the mystical ability to “Reforge” written words into lived memories—she unearths a hidden family history of espionage, betrayal, and survival spanning from wartime China to modern-day Massachusetts. As Monica pieces together the past, she forms an unexpected bond with Louise, an ambitious archivist with her own stake in the story, and grapples with the implications of her tech professor’s digital journal project, EMBRS, which echoes the Reforging ability in an unsettling way. King nimbly navigates themes of intergenerational trauma, privacy, and the evolving nature of storytelling to craft a novel that is simultaneously intimate and expansive. Though some elements, particularly the romance and EMBRS subplots, feel underdeveloped, the novel’s heart lies in its thoughtful exploration of who decides what history to preserve. It’s a poignant magical realist tale that’s sure to find fans. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Co. (June)