The Phoenix Pencil Company: A Reese's Book Club Pick

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the eARC!This book was dazzling. For some reason before I started reading it, I didn't connect that Phoenix meant the animal - I kept imagining Phoenix, Arizona. This was quickly cleared up when I started reading.This was a beautiful exploration of a time in history we don't hear much about, and from a perspective I hadn't been taught about. The structure of the book was really interesting too - dual timelines was really fun.I liked both storylines, but I think the one in the past was slightly better. The idea of a pencil giving up its secrets with a magical power was SO interesting. I loved the exploration of communication, what we decide to share, what is shared without our consent, and what it means to post online.One thing that was a little disappointing, and I'm assuming this was related to it being an ARC, not the final version, most of the emojis that are included in the text came through as squares, so I had to just guess what was being said by the context. This was not a huge part of the text, so don't let that put you off, but it was something I noted.

Made it to page 40 and I'm unsure how to recycle the drivel. Reads like an unedited, self published, neurotic, rambling, collection of words.

Monica’s grandmother, Yun, asks her to help find her long-lost cousin, Meng. Monica utilizes a computer program to locate Meng and meets Louise, who is friends with Meng. Upon meeting, Meng sends a simple pencil as a gift. However, this seemingly ordinary gift holds immense significance in the history of Meng and Yun. The narrative unfolds through alternating time periods, revealing the profound connection between the pencils and the past.I recommend this book, it has something for everyone- historical fiction of WWII Shanghai, fantasy elements, LGBTQIAP+, romance with some spice, family secrets, and redemption. It’s a multilayered novel with alternating timelines and stories that I was engaged to learn how it was going to end. The fantasy elements of the pencils is quite unique.Thank you William Morrow and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Courtesy of Harper Collins and Netgalley, I received the ARC of The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King. This debut novel was so creative in approaching generational experiences, family legacies and memories through connections and communication encompassing different mediums. Historically reaching back to Revolutions in China, occupation by Japan, Communists vs Nationalists, Shanghai, Taiwan, the unique roles of these women as matriarchs, and then involvement with espionage, a lot of information was covered! But never a dull moment with these special characters, as the story looks to the past to forge contemporary bonds. I loved the mahjong! Highly recommend!

The Phoenix Pencil Company is a multi-generational saga with elements of magical realism. Each chapter switches between the grandmother’s story of growing up in Shanghai and the granddaughter’s story in present-day Boston. The grandmother’s family owned the Phoenix Pencil Company, where her mother makes pencils that seem ordinary, but allow them to access all of the words the pencil ever writes. This was utilized during WWII and the communist takeover in China, forcing the grandmother to leave her whole family and move to the US. The granddaughter is trying to help her grandmother reconnect to her heritage, and in the process meets a fellow college student who becomes a potential love interest.This has a lot of elements I love - a multi-generational saga set during WWII in Asia? Sign me up! Secret magical pencils? I’m in! The premise was incredibly engaging and the history lesson on the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and eventual fall to the communist party was really interesting to me. But the story had some pacing issues, and the present-day storyline with the granddaughter didn't have enough meat to keep me interested.Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Allison King for my review copy!

“The pencil is one of the simplest yet most revolutionary tools ever created…(a) humble writing instrument…an essential part of human creativity and expression.”A mix of powdered graphite and clay was shaped into rods and baked. By adjustment to the clay-to-graphite ratio, pencils of varying darkness and hardness would then be placed in a cedar wood casing. This reader loves pencils…pencils in triangular casing, sports team casing, Hello Kitty and super student casings. Pencils rule!Monica Tsai had been raised by her grandparents, both now in their nineties. Seventy years ago, Grandma Yun lost touch with her cousin, Meng. Yun rarely spoke about the Phoenix Pencil Company, run in Shanghai, by the matriarchs of the family. The husbands/fathers were fighting in two subsequent wars. Yun was reluctant to speak about her haunted past filled with regret. She wished to right a wrong, to beg Meng for forgiveness. Using modern technological coding, Monica was able to “spark a connection with Louise Sun”. Louise had posted, " I’ve been having the time of my life in Shanghai this summer with the absolute BOSS sitting next to me here. She lived through the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and ran the Phoenix Pencil Company…They would make custom pencils for people all over…One of the only woman-run companies in the city at the time!” Meng wanted Louise to send a package to Yun. The package contained…a pencil. Meng’s pencil, in striking black was like the pencils Monica found in the attic of her grandparents house. “The point wasn’t sharp, yet the lead still shone. At the opposite end of the point was a carving of a phoenix”. After seventy years, why would Meng attach importance to a used pencil?How could families record shared history during a time of upheaval in Shanghai…in a time of “war and betrayal’? Yun and Meng each had a version of the same truth that plagued the family. Through the matriarchal line, a gift (or curse) was put to use…reforging pencils. This superpower could be used for good or unleashed to do harm. People from all walks of life came to the pencil factory for a “pencil fitting” to try out different graphite compositions and then select from a multitude of cedar casing designs. One day, a policeman named Gao came for a fitting. The Wong family was wary of the police who cooperated with local gangs and aided the Japanese in controlling Shanghai. In order to secure their safety, Yun and Meng were forced to reforge battered pencils left by Gao while he left with pristine ones. Nosy neighbors were always on the alert to report any unusual activity.Reforging -a method by which the point of a pencil was forced into the wrist so that the pencil’s heart flowed into the arm creating the scarring image of a phoenix. The used pencil’s words could either be saved by the reforger, as a memory, or could be blotted onto paper as a written message. In this way, Gao and others, passed wartime messages and strategies to the higher ups. The women of the pencil factory were intimidated and therefore, cooperated.Yun had “survived wars, moved all over the world, learned new languages and customs…Now her mind is going to betray her, slowly and steadily.” Before she forgets, it is hoped that through reforging she would share her life journey with her granddaughter, Monica.This very inventive read of literary fiction, by debut author Allison King, focuses on the importance of recording ancestral history to keep family memories alive for future generations.Highly recommended.

A pencil is just a pencil to most of us. In Shanghai back before WWII, there was a family that had the ability to perform magic with pencils. It’s almost a lost art, until Monica Tsai wants to help her grandmother remember her past and wants to gather her grandmother’s stories before it’s too late.Monica is a software engineer working on a project that links people through social media posts. She decides to try the software to reconnect her grandmother Yun with her long lost cousin Meng. What she uncovers leads her to a college student, Louise. It will be Louise that has the key to getting Yun and Meng back together.Yun grew up in Shanghai with her mother at their family’s pencil company. One day her cousin Meng arrives with her mother to stay with Yun and her mother. Yun doesn’t want her there and does everything she can to discourage a friendship with Meng. When a practical joke turns on Yun, she finds out that Meng knows family secrets that Yun doesn’t.Really beautiful story about pre-Communist Shanghai, Taiwan, and those whose families were torn apart by war and politics. Monica’s journal entries are interwoven with correspondence from Yun to Meng, piecing together the history of Monica’s ancestors. It’s so beautifully written. This novel wonderfully weaves the past and the present together into a cohesive story about families and the stories they share or hide.Long, but incredible read.

I liked THE PHOENIX PENCIL COMPANY, although it suffered from a few flaws. The main character, Monica, is working on a data-mining algorithm meant to forge connections between people. She decides to find her grandmother’s long-lost cousin with the program, which unfolds a past history full of secrets and magic centered around the family’s pencil factory—as well as a new friend whose motives may not be entirely pure.The idea of a pencil that can not only regurgitate the last words it wrote but put you in the writer’s emotional state? As someone who wishes I could get inside people’s minds, this concept was fascinating to me, as was the book’s analysis of how ethical such a connection would actually be (and the way it connected the concept to modern software). I loved the book’s musings on relationship, connection, and the stories we choose to share.I found other aspects less enjoyable. The “pleasure” aspect to Reforging felt gimmicky to me. In general, the lore of the pencils and how they worked had some holes in it—it was an interesting idea, but I wanted it on a firmer narrative foundation (how did these women learn they could Reforge? What came first, the pencils or the Reforgers? If this was explained in the book, I managed to miss it entirely).Still, it was an interesting read, and I think it will stay with me. This would be a great option for a book club—it has the potential to be polarizing and touches on many aspects of the human experience.

Interesting concept and read. I enjoyed the history aspects and learning about WWII and the civil war in China from a new perspective. The present day story line got kind of dull just focusing on the love story. Over all interesting read and a unique idea.

I was immediately intrigued when I first read the description of The Phoenix Pencil Company. A family saga intertwined with magical realism, dual timelines, LGBTQIA+ themes, and historical fiction — all centered around a mysterious ability to “Reforge” the memories contained in pencils? It sounded like a truly original concept. And I’m always drawn to stories about memory and legacy, particularly when they involve the bond between grandparents and grandchildren. I’m glad I picked this one up, even though my experience with it was a bit mixed.The novel follows Monica Tsai, a socially anxious college freshman and computer science major who finds more comfort in her coding projects than in face-to-face interactions. Monica is especially close to her grandparents, who raised her, and when she comes home for a visit and learns that her beloved grandmother Yun’s memory is starting to deteriorate, her world begins to shift. Yun, a survivor of two wars and a life filled with hidden pain, is a complex and quietly fierce woman — and as her memories fade, Monica grows desperate to preserve her family’s history and help her grandmother find closure with her long-lost cousin Meng.What Monica soon discovers is a family secret beyond anything she could have imagined. The women in her family possess a magical ability to “Reforge” the memories of a pencil’s past writers — an ability that was once used to help with espionage efforts during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai and later in Taiwan. This power comes with both beauty and tragedy, and its legacy has left scars on Yun, Meng, and the generations that followed.The story alternates between Monica’s present-day perspective and Yun’s past, unfolding through letters, journal entries, and traditional narration. I have to say, Yun’s chapters were the standout for me. King’s writing truly shines in the historical sections — the atmosphere of wartime Shanghai is vivid, tense, and emotionally layered. I was completely absorbed in Yun’s story: her childhood, the growing bond with her cousin Meng, their coming of age in a time of unimaginable danger, and the moral compromises they are forced to make to survive. The Reforging magic added a fascinating dimension to these chapters, functioning as both a literal tool and a metaphor for the way history and memory are written, altered, and preserved — sometimes against our will.I listened to part of the book on audio as well, and I’m so glad I did. The narration really enhanced the experience, especially with the dual perspectives and shifting timelines. The narrator(s) brought real warmth and nuance to both Monica and Yun’s voices — capturing Monica’s youthful uncertainty and growing determination, as well as Yun’s quiet strength and deep well of emotion. The emotional beats landed even more strongly in audio, and the pacing felt natural and immersive. If you enjoy audiobooks, I’d absolutely recommend this format for The Phoenix Pencil Company. It brought another layer of intimacy to a story that is, at its heart, about voice and memory.Monica’s chapters were a little more uneven for me. While I appreciated her love for her grandparents and her desire to protect them, I sometimes found her passive and difficult to fully connect with. Her relationship with Louise had moments of sweetness but didn’t always feel fully developed, and I struggled a bit with the shift in tone when the romance and tech-ethics plotline took center stage later in the book. The novel raises compelling questions about data privacy and the ethics of digital storytelling, but I thought some of those ideas could have been explored more deeply or more smoothly integrated with the central family narrative.One of the challenges I had was with the mechanics of the Reforging process itself. While I loved the idea conceptually — the notion that the words and emotions imbued in a humble pencil could be recovered and relived — I often found the descriptions of how it worked to be either too vague or too uncomfortable. The process involves a physical act of drawing the pencil’s history out through the body, and certain aspects of this felt oddly graphic and occasionally distracting from the emotional core of the story. I also struggled a bit with the pacing in the second half of the novel. The book is beautifully written, but there were moments where it dragged, and I found myself wishing the narrative had been a little tighter and more focused.That said, there is so much heart in this story. Monica’s devotion to her grandparents — especially her grandmother — resonated deeply with me. As someone who has watched loved ones struggle with dementia, I found Yun’s gradual loss of memory heartbreaking and sensitively portrayed. The love between Monica and her grandparents is the emotional anchor of the book, and those scenes felt authentic and moving. I also appreciated the novel’s nuanced portrayal of intergenerational trauma — how silence, sacrifice, and unspoken pain rip...

This book was too wordy and long. The story of the pencil hearts would have been more than enough. I didn’t need the additional love intrigue story thrown in; felt like that watered down the book.

This heartwarming story with multiple POVs details the rich lives of a grandmother and her granddaughter. Through love, heartbreak, and war, we relive tough times and happy times through diary entries, while reflecting on the past, present, and future.

The Phoenix Pencil Company started out very slowly for me. I grew to like it more and more the further I read, and as the tension built. Ms. King writes complex characters, and I found the relationship between the grandparents and the granddaughter very endearing. The relationship between Monica and Louise was a great slow-building relationship between two women who were very unsure of themselves and each other in this aspect of their lives. I loved how it developed. The magic portrayed in this book is a unique type - I haven't seen it before. It is a blood magic, still with potential to corrupt, but potential to be lifechanging. What was made very clear was the huge toll it took on the practitioner. The way the author intertwined it with giving us glimpses into Chinese culture, especially the culture of those forced to flee China, was entrancing. I recommend this book to anyone who loves plots with twists and turns, history interwoven, and stories where main characters truly find themselves. It was a great read!

Phoenix Pencil Company is a stirring tale of family, love, and the question that links it all: who owns a story? Or a memory? I found both timelines and characters distinct and interesting. King weaves the story elements, killer turns of phrase, and touches of romance together with a deft hand. A must-read

What a great story. Learning about the family consisting of a grandmother, grandfather and Monica their granddaughter. Such a loving family. The Phoenix Pencil Company what an amazing thing to have during the wars. Reforging messages from people hidden messages, the messages that could get someone killed or secret messages sent to aid the resistance. What a toll that has to take on a body!This was quite an interesting story and I’m so glad I got the chance to read it!I want to thank NetGalley and William Morrow for this advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

Thank you so much to the publisher (HarperCollins) and the author for the opportunity to read this advanced reader copy!This book is extremely timely as we find out more and more how our data is being shared online. I love how the author built a fictional story around this very controversial topic. No matter how you feel about it, you understand the characters' points of view and how they change their minds about their role in technology and storytelling, and how we all have a role in it.The magical realism piece of this book was really well done because it didn't interfere by being all too random, but it also was a special gift that only a few people have.I thought the relationship between the main character, Monica, and her grandparents, was the biggest reason that Monica can make the decisions she had to make. The theme of familial love being the greatest strength was so apparent in the book.I loved this story, and can't wait to see what the author writes next!

The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King*Advanced Reader Copy*Publish Date: June 3, 2025ALL the 🌟sEver been in a reading slump? That has been me lately. Every book I pick up (even amazing ones) have not held my interest in the past few weeks. Then The Phoenix Pencil Company entered my life. Easily my favorite book of the year so far. I loved this book and could not get enough. Do you like multigenerational tales? Historical fiction? A *bit* of magical realism? Feel good stories? Complicated characters? Strong women? This book is for you.Monica is in school learning programming and coding. She begins journaling her life via the computer in a program that she is helping launch called EMBRS. EMBRS connects strangers online via shared likes, experiences, etc. Through a series of random events and a sequence of codes, the internet connects Monica with her grandmother’s long lost cousin.This connection sets off a series of amazing events that combine two timelines; Monica in 2018 and her grandmother as a girl China. Monica begins to learn that her doting grandmother has lived an entirely different life than Monica ever could have imagined and it all starts at The Phoenix Pencil Company in Shanghai during WW2. Even more surprising she uncovers that the women that owned and made pencils had a special power. This power leds to espionage, government secrets, war, and heartbreak.I can’t give any more away. You have to read this novel yourself when it comes out June 3rd.Thank you to Netgalley and William Morrow for the Advanced Reader Copy.#ThePhoneixPencilCompany #NetGalley.

I found this a lot like Homeseeking, where we see how the characters are effected in China while living through the occupation of Japan and then living through a civil war in China and how it effected everyone in the family. Even though they had a special talent, I don't know if it actually is a wonder or a tragedy. I like how characters were able to connect after many years and how they both learn to forgive each other and learn the most important lesson, is to present when you are with someone. I was amazed of how Wong Yun not only escaped China but also ended up in America, she was very clever and was willing to do some unsavory things to stay in America. I also like how she reconnected with Torou in the United States and ended up getting marrying him. I found that the lives of the characters in the story to be very hard and scary with moments of gladness, almost like a Yin and Yang, never one without the other. I found the love Torou had for Wong wonderful and touching, and that he was always by her side, even when it was hard.I found the relationship between Monica and Louisa interesting but nothing like the story of Wong Yun and Meng and what happened to them while living in China. I didn't feel the connection between Monica and Louisa very strong, but I did like Monica and how she made time to take care of her grandparents. I liked that she was able to reconnect to her father, but the connection she has with her grandparents was very touching.I want to thank William Morrow and NetGalley for an advance copy of a story full of love and turmoil.

Monica is a coder and university student and is currently working with her professor on a program that seeks to connect people together. Raised by her aging grandparents she grows increasingly concerned about them, especially with her grandmother Yun who is in declining heath. Monica makes it her mission to connect Yun with her beloved cousin that she lost contact with during the tumult in China after WWII. Using the software program she works for she finds Meng, her grandmother's cousin through a young woman named Louise who is herself intriguing and attractive to Monica. When Meng sends a pencil to Yun, Monica is initially disappointed in the response. But pencils are important and valuable to them, as the women in their family possess a special gift, the ability to reforge the writing instrument, uncovering what was written and giving them a glimpse into the writer's mind. The skill becomes extremely valuable as the wars rage on and in the lives of all of the family, writing their histories and changing the course of their lives.Told through the online journal entries of Monica and through the reforged pencils of Yun (and eventually other family members) we begin to understand how important the telling of stories is and how the fight over who owns a story can connect or divide them. Connection and communication are two of the main pillars that run throughout the story, regardless of storyteller or the decade.The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King will definitely make it to my list of favorite books in 2025. This inventive novel has a bit of magic in it but it grounds itself in the very real history of China during WWII, its civil war and the present.With a rich cast of characters, vividly drawn locations, lots of action and beautiful, sometimes heartbreaking, stories, author King delivers a breathtaking debut novel. Do yourself a favor and add The Phoenix Pencil Company to your TBR and get caught up in this world full of amazing lives, heart and a touch of magic. Five very well earned stars.I received this advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.