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Nothing to My Name
Inspired by the author’s own family history, and spanning the past hundred years of Chinese history, this multi-generational family saga explores how women survive the tsunamis of history
Nothing to My Name chronicles the intertwined fates of three generations of Chinese Ah Xue, Mimosa, and Fei. The Grandmother, Ah Xue, witnesses the rise of the Communist Revolution while earning a meager living combing the hair of the few wealthy ladies in her small fishing village. Mimosa, the Mother, grows up in the shadow of her parents’ struggles as the growing tension of the Cultural Revolution threatens to pull their family apart. And Fei Fei, the Daughter, brought up as a “boy” by her activist father, grapples with gender identity in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Awash in the tides of societal upheaval, Ah Xue, Mimosa, and Fei Fei are all driven by the instinct to survive, weathering hardship that splinters the boundary between the personal and the political. For listeners of sweeping upmarket book club fiction like Pachinko and Homegoing, Nothing to My Name is a braided history of suffering and dignity, of loss and reckoning, and of the unexpected joy that sustains family bonds.
Nothing to My Name chronicles the intertwined fates of three generations of Chinese Ah Xue, Mimosa, and Fei. The Grandmother, Ah Xue, witnesses the rise of the Communist Revolution while earning a meager living combing the hair of the few wealthy ladies in her small fishing village. Mimosa, the Mother, grows up in the shadow of her parents’ struggles as the growing tension of the Cultural Revolution threatens to pull their family apart. And Fei Fei, the Daughter, brought up as a “boy” by her activist father, grapples with gender identity in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Awash in the tides of societal upheaval, Ah Xue, Mimosa, and Fei Fei are all driven by the instinct to survive, weathering hardship that splinters the boundary between the personal and the political. For listeners of sweeping upmarket book club fiction like Pachinko and Homegoing, Nothing to My Name is a braided history of suffering and dignity, of loss and reckoning, and of the unexpected joy that sustains family bonds.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published June 23, 2026
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April 10, 20264.5/5 – A Tender, Sweeping Saga of Resilience Across a Century of Chinese TurmoilKangkang Li Kovacs delivers a stunning debut with Nothing to My Name, a multi-generational family saga that braids the lives of three remarkable women against the backdrop of modern China's most seismic upheavals. If you're drawn to epic yet intimate historical fiction like Pachinko or Homegoing, this novel is an absolute must-read—poignant, unflinching, and deeply humane.
The story unfolds across decades, beginning in 1948 in the fishing village of Zhoushan. Twelve-year-old Ah Xue observes her mother's quiet labor combing hair for wealthy clients as civil war and the Communist revolution loom. Her daughter Mimosa then navigates the shadows of parental trauma amid the Cultural Revolution's chaos. Finally, granddaughter Fei—raised as a boy by her activist father—confronts identity, loss, and survival in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square events. Through these intertwined fates, Kovacs illuminates how ordinary women endure history's "tsunamis," bound by love, trauma, and an unbreakable will to persist.
What shines brightest is the author's remarkable tenderness in portraying trauma without sensationalism. Kovacs, drawing from her own family history and roots in Nanchang, China, crafts characters who feel achingly real: flawed, contradictory, and profoundly resilient. Ah Xue's quiet strength, Mimosa's fractured upbringing, and Fei's complex search for self create a rich emotional tapestry. The prose is elegant and immersive, blending the personal with the political in ways that never feel didactic. Moments of everyday beauty—hair-combing rituals, familial silences, small acts of defiance—stand in powerful contrast to the larger forces of revolution, upheaval, and suppression.The novel excels at exploring the enduring ripples of history on women's lives: the search for stability amid disorder, the weight of unspoken secrets, and the often messy nature of mother-daughter bonds. While some sections move with deliberate slowness to honor the weight of memory and survival, the pacing ultimately serves the story's depth, building to quietly devastating and hopeful culminations.As a debut from a writer who transitioned from nuclear physics and teaching to MFA-trained fiction, Nothing to My Name announces Kovacs as a major new voice in literary fiction. At around 400 pages, it feels expansive yet tightly focused on the female experience often sidelined in grand historical narratives.If there's any quibble, it's that the scope occasionally demands patience as threads weave together, but the payoff is immensely rewarding. This is the kind of book that lingers—haunting in its honesty, uplifting in its celebration of quiet dignity.Highly recommended for book clubs and readers seeking sweeping yet character-driven stories. Nothing to My Name is a beautiful testament to the women who survive what history throws at them, emerging with stories that demand to be told. Look for it in June 2026—it's destined to be one of the standout debuts of the year.
The story unfolds across decades, beginning in 1948 in the fishing village of Zhoushan. Twelve-year-old Ah Xue observes her mother's quiet labor combing hair for wealthy clients as civil war and the Communist revolution loom. Her daughter Mimosa then navigates the shadows of parental trauma amid the Cultural Revolution's chaos. Finally, granddaughter Fei—raised as a boy by her activist father—confronts identity, loss, and survival in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square events. Through these intertwined fates, Kovacs illuminates how ordinary women endure history's "tsunamis," bound by love, trauma, and an unbreakable will to persist.
What shines brightest is the author's remarkable tenderness in portraying trauma without sensationalism. Kovacs, drawing from her own family history and roots in Nanchang, China, crafts characters who feel achingly real: flawed, contradictory, and profoundly resilient. Ah Xue's quiet strength, Mimosa's fractured upbringing, and Fei's complex search for self create a rich emotional tapestry. The prose is elegant and immersive, blending the personal with the political in ways that never feel didactic. Moments of everyday beauty—hair-combing rituals, familial silences, small acts of defiance—stand in powerful contrast to the larger forces of revolution, upheaval, and suppression.The novel excels at exploring the enduring ripples of history on women's lives: the search for stability amid disorder, the weight of unspoken secrets, and the often messy nature of mother-daughter bonds. While some sections move with deliberate slowness to honor the weight of memory and survival, the pacing ultimately serves the story's depth, building to quietly devastating and hopeful culminations.As a debut from a writer who transitioned from nuclear physics and teaching to MFA-trained fiction, Nothing to My Name announces Kovacs as a major new voice in literary fiction. At around 400 pages, it feels expansive yet tightly focused on the female experience often sidelined in grand historical narratives.If there's any quibble, it's that the scope occasionally demands patience as threads weave together, but the payoff is immensely rewarding. This is the kind of book that lingers—haunting in its honesty, uplifting in its celebration of quiet dignity.Highly recommended for book clubs and readers seeking sweeping yet character-driven stories. Nothing to My Name is a beautiful testament to the women who survive what history throws at them, emerging with stories that demand to be told. Look for it in June 2026—it's destined to be one of the standout debuts of the year.
May 3, 2026
Thank you to NetGalley and Bloomsbury Publishing for providing me with an ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
“Nothing to My Name” is at the same time a sweeping generational epic and an intimate portrayal of the lives of three ordinary women. Spanning one hundred years of Chinese history, the novel deftly navigates historical points while remaining grounded in the everyday lives of the women the story is centred around.
I enjoyed the story of Ah Xue the most, but young Fei was also a well-written and complex character despite being a small child for the majority of the story. I’ve read quite a few novels about the Cultural Revolution and I found this one to be really well done, hitting on some topics that I hadn’t read about elsewhere. Kovacs is an excellent writer, portraying both small details and deep emotions with nuance and painstaking detail. This is an incredible debut. I enjoyed reading this book immensely and will continue to follow the author and her future work.
“Nothing to My Name” is at the same time a sweeping generational epic and an intimate portrayal of the lives of three ordinary women. Spanning one hundred years of Chinese history, the novel deftly navigates historical points while remaining grounded in the everyday lives of the women the story is centred around.
I enjoyed the story of Ah Xue the most, but young Fei was also a well-written and complex character despite being a small child for the majority of the story. I’ve read quite a few novels about the Cultural Revolution and I found this one to be really well done, hitting on some topics that I hadn’t read about elsewhere. Kovacs is an excellent writer, portraying both small details and deep emotions with nuance and painstaking detail. This is an incredible debut. I enjoyed reading this book immensely and will continue to follow the author and her future work.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
This book is the quintessential family saga that I think that everyone should read. This story takes place in China during the years of the Chinese Civil War, the Culture revolution all the way to ten years after the Tiananmen Square protests and revolution.
What follows is three generations of women and how their survived during these big government and society changes. The beginning of the book very much follows the Matriarch of the family and her granddaughter growing up immediately before the Civil War and during the lead up to the Tiananmen Square protests. What I appreciated about the way that it was set up is that these two things marked the biggest changes in Chinese society during these times.
The culture revolution part, very much highlighted how there was beak out between different communist parties that led to more issues.
This is why I adore historical fiction. Yes, you can kind of understand what was happening to a country and its citizens at the time, but when an author is able to use personal history and synthesize based on what is being shared with real events, the effect is that much more impactful!
While the history part is fascinating, what was amazing about this book is the love that each of these women felt for their children and mothers respectfully. The book was also a huge commentary, in my opinion, on masculinity in China and the repression they caused.
I will say I think that I wished that the titles of the Chapters also had the title of the woman that they were talking about. I would have also liked a map!
However, this book is an important read, and I think that when it is published, everyone should read it!
This is my first ARC review, and I had an absolute blast reading this!
What follows is three generations of women and how their survived during these big government and society changes. The beginning of the book very much follows the Matriarch of the family and her granddaughter growing up immediately before the Civil War and during the lead up to the Tiananmen Square protests. What I appreciated about the way that it was set up is that these two things marked the biggest changes in Chinese society during these times.
The culture revolution part, very much highlighted how there was beak out between different communist parties that led to more issues.
This is why I adore historical fiction. Yes, you can kind of understand what was happening to a country and its citizens at the time, but when an author is able to use personal history and synthesize based on what is being shared with real events, the effect is that much more impactful!
While the history part is fascinating, what was amazing about this book is the love that each of these women felt for their children and mothers respectfully. The book was also a huge commentary, in my opinion, on masculinity in China and the repression they caused.
I will say I think that I wished that the titles of the Chapters also had the title of the woman that they were talking about. I would have also liked a map!
However, this book is an important read, and I think that when it is published, everyone should read it!
This is my first ARC review, and I had an absolute blast reading this!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Nothing to My Name presents the stories of three Chinese women. Initially presented in two different time periods, the story eventually coalesces and you understand you're seeing the multi-generational story of a single family of women through the eyes of Ah Xue, Mimosa and Fei. It gives you an indirect look at a hundred years of Chinese history, through the Chinese Civil War, the Cultural Revolution, the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, and China's one-child policy by showing you the indirect impacts these things had on the lives of the women. For example, the one-child policy sees Fei encouraged to behave like a son by her father: "'Girls love to play with dolls, playhouses... all the miniature fake stuff. They waste their time with that sort of thing. And none of it is real. They are just toys. It takes a truly curious mind to look at the world around you, see how it really is'."
Unlike most dual timeline stories, I didn't find myself favouring one over the other, and rushing through the unfavoured timeline to return to the story I was invested in. The writing is also quite lovely, even poetic in places: "Ma was prone to these soliloquies. She'd always end them in a rising tone, leaving a trail of questions to hang, like tendrils, in the air." However I wasn't as keen on these analogies being repeated: "Filaments of murmur dangled in the air." Only one dangle per book please.
You get quite a good picture of the lives of Chinese women from birth, to child-rearing, midwifery, abortion, domestic violence and death through this book. I particularly liked seeing how midwives' lives changed into being baby killers with the one-child policy. While I knew it had involved abortions and forced sterilisation, what happened to full-term female babies wasn't something I'd thought much about: "To wash a girl cost twice as much as to deliver a boy. At least there was that." I doubt many policymakers think adequately about what the reality of their policies will mean in women's and girls' lives.
With thanks to NetGalley & Bloomsbury ANZ for sending me a copy to read.
Unlike most dual timeline stories, I didn't find myself favouring one over the other, and rushing through the unfavoured timeline to return to the story I was invested in. The writing is also quite lovely, even poetic in places: "Ma was prone to these soliloquies. She'd always end them in a rising tone, leaving a trail of questions to hang, like tendrils, in the air." However I wasn't as keen on these analogies being repeated: "Filaments of murmur dangled in the air." Only one dangle per book please.
You get quite a good picture of the lives of Chinese women from birth, to child-rearing, midwifery, abortion, domestic violence and death through this book. I particularly liked seeing how midwives' lives changed into being baby killers with the one-child policy. While I knew it had involved abortions and forced sterilisation, what happened to full-term female babies wasn't something I'd thought much about: "To wash a girl cost twice as much as to deliver a boy. At least there was that." I doubt many policymakers think adequately about what the reality of their policies will mean in women's and girls' lives.
With thanks to NetGalley & Bloomsbury ANZ for sending me a copy to read.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Nothing to My Name is a family saga focused on three generations of women, and their relationships with one another. The Grandmother, Ah Xue, witnesses the rise of the Communist Revolution while earning a meager living combing the hair of the few wealthy ladies in her small fishing village. Mimosa, the Mother, grows up in the shadow of her parents’ struggles as the growing tension of the Cultural Revolution threatens to pull their family apart. And Fei Fei, the Daughter, brought up as a “boy” by her activist father, grapples with gender identity in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre. I found the narrative often confusing, despite the date that introduced each chapter and provided a landmark, as it were, by identifying the city in which the action took place. Each of the women was identified by more than one name at different times, and it felt as though there were more than three generations included in the narrative. In her notes after the end of the novel, the author comments that one of her mentors taught her the value of subtlety, adding, "I don't think I'll ever conclude a story without asking myself, again and again, does it come together, but barely?" That subtlety, and the story's *barely* coming together in the final couple chapters, proved too much for me; coming too late, the connections among the characters no longer mattered enough, and I found myself simply glad to have reached the end.
June 29, 2026
For once, I'm having trouble writing a review because this book truly left me speechless. There is so much to love and unpack in these 400 pages that I'm not sure where to start. First, I'll say it was deeply immersive and yet unputdownable. The pacing is perfect. The dual POV and timeline jumps didn't slow the momentum, and I loved how everything came together in the end. It was a seamless intertwining of the three threads we'd been following since the beginning. The prose was also a star in this book. It is lyrical and ornate, and I highlighted plenty of lines. The inclusion of Hai Zi's poetry and song lyrics fits right in with Kovacs' style. Ah Xue, Mimosa, and FeiFei were well-developed, intriguing characters that I wanted to get to know and root for as they developed. Seeing Chinese history--specifically the Communist Revolution, the Cultural Revolution, and the student protests at Tiananmen Square--through their eyes was a poignant way to explore how gender norms have changed over time and how common people were impacted by these upheavals. The historical elements were clearly well-researched, detailed, and meaningfully depicted. I think this is a great choice for fans of Eve J. Chung and any other multigenerational family sagas, such as The Covenant of Water or Pachinko.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you NetGalley and Viking Penguin for a chance to review Nothing to My Name
by Kangkang Li Kovacs
Three generations of Chinese women. Three of history's most brutal chapters, the Communist Revolution, the Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square. And yet *Nothing to My Name* never turns into a history lecture. Kovacs keeps her eye on the people: Ah Xue, Mimosa, and Fei are messy and alive, surviving, loving badly, and passing their wounds down without knowing it. That's the book's quiet devastation — trauma doesn't announce itself here. It lives in silence, in distance, in the small ways people learn to hold each other at arm's length.
The three-voice structure moves across time but holds together, a single thread stitched through different hands. There's a tenderness in Kovacs' prose that never softens into sentimentality. Fei's storyline carries particular weight; a child raised as a boy in the shadow of 1989, navigating politics and identity at once and it earns every page.
Rooted in the author's own family history, the novel reads like excavation: deliberate, personal, searching. It's heavy in the way literary fiction should be — not oppressive, but the kind of weight that lingers.
by Kangkang Li Kovacs
Three generations of Chinese women. Three of history's most brutal chapters, the Communist Revolution, the Cultural Revolution, Tiananmen Square. And yet *Nothing to My Name* never turns into a history lecture. Kovacs keeps her eye on the people: Ah Xue, Mimosa, and Fei are messy and alive, surviving, loving badly, and passing their wounds down without knowing it. That's the book's quiet devastation — trauma doesn't announce itself here. It lives in silence, in distance, in the small ways people learn to hold each other at arm's length.
The three-voice structure moves across time but holds together, a single thread stitched through different hands. There's a tenderness in Kovacs' prose that never softens into sentimentality. Fei's storyline carries particular weight; a child raised as a boy in the shadow of 1989, navigating politics and identity at once and it earns every page.
Rooted in the author's own family history, the novel reads like excavation: deliberate, personal, searching. It's heavy in the way literary fiction should be — not oppressive, but the kind of weight that lingers.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Book Report: Nothing to My Name by Kangkang Li Kovac
A sweeping…deeply moving family saga that follows three generations of women as they navigate love… loss…survival and the relentless tides of history. Through shifting perspectives and decades of change…their stories become beautifully intertwined in ways that feel both intimate and unforgettable.
For the life of me…I can't remember which author first put this stunning debut on my radar but the moment I read the synopsis I knew I had to pick it up. I started with my egalley…then once I found my footing with the alternating timelines and perspectives…I happily switched between the audiobook during the day and my ecopy at night.
I loved getting to spend time with these characters. Life is so complex and I was especially moved by the way Kangkang Li Kovacs writes suffering alongside joy…never losing sight of resilience or the quiet bonds that carry us through. There were so many moments that had me reflecting long after I turned the page.
A beautiful debut and one that has me eagerly waiting to see what this author writes next.
Thank you Viking for the ecopy
Releases 6/23
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Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher, for which I thank them.
“Nothing to My Name” is by Kangkang Kovacs. I greatly enjoy multi-generational novels and this one hit some pretty high notes. This book is drawn from the author’s own family history, so it felt “real” a number of times. Three women (Ah Xue in 1948 when the Civil War loomed, her daughter, Mimosa, during the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and then, granddaughter Fei in 1989 around the time of the Tiananmen Square events) are followed in this story. It does take a while for the stories to all tie together, so be patient. My one complaint is that the women are young when they are being followed, so sometimes one has to realize that their observations and through the eyes of younger people, not adults. I do wish that I’d had a better grasp of Chinese history because my limited knowledge resulted in a number of pauses to look things up on the Internet. Overall, if you like multi-generational stories, this might be one to read.
“Nothing to My Name” is by Kangkang Kovacs. I greatly enjoy multi-generational novels and this one hit some pretty high notes. This book is drawn from the author’s own family history, so it felt “real” a number of times. Three women (Ah Xue in 1948 when the Civil War loomed, her daughter, Mimosa, during the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and then, granddaughter Fei in 1989 around the time of the Tiananmen Square events) are followed in this story. It does take a while for the stories to all tie together, so be patient. My one complaint is that the women are young when they are being followed, so sometimes one has to realize that their observations and through the eyes of younger people, not adults. I do wish that I’d had a better grasp of Chinese history because my limited knowledge resulted in a number of pauses to look things up on the Internet. Overall, if you like multi-generational stories, this might be one to read.
June 23, 2026
Three generation of women in China. Ah Xue, Mimosa and Fei each tell the story in this multiple time line story that winds through post WWII Chinese history (although it ends in 1998). It can be a bit confusing at times to keep it all straight, especially since various characters are referred to as The Mother. This isn't a happy story but rather one of struggles. Ah Xue dealt with the devastation of the PLA coming through as well as her own troubles at age 14. Mimosa's husband is active in politics. Fei, a bright kid, copes with her parent's disintegrating marriage and her own issues. Because Fei's father refers to her as his son (and her mother calls her pup), there was indeed some confusion about her gender but it ultimately becomes clear that her father wanted a son and so there you have it. It's a big book that take on many issues and can be slow in spots but ultimately it's a rewarding look at life. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A worthy read.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A multigenerational story spanning forty years about resilience and survival in the face of societal upheaval.
Three women - Ah Xue (Grandmother) witnesses the rise of Communism; Mimosa (the Mother) navigates the Cultural Revolution; Fei Fei (the Daughter) raised as a boy by her activist father struggles with gender identity in the aftermath of Tiananmen Square in 1989. All are driven to survive and face immense trauma in the process though shored up by family bonds.
The book is nicely written. The story is deep. It’s perfect for our times showing how a culture can destroys itself leaving people trying to survive this deeply traumatized but hopeful to find stability in disorder so their survival will not have been in vain.
My thanks to NetGalley and Viking for allowing me access to this ARC.
Three women - Ah Xue (Grandmother) witnesses the rise of Communism; Mimosa (the Mother) navigates the Cultural Revolution; Fei Fei (the Daughter) raised as a boy by her activist father struggles with gender identity in the aftermath of Tiananmen Square in 1989. All are driven to survive and face immense trauma in the process though shored up by family bonds.
The book is nicely written. The story is deep. It’s perfect for our times showing how a culture can destroys itself leaving people trying to survive this deeply traumatized but hopeful to find stability in disorder so their survival will not have been in vain.
My thanks to NetGalley and Viking for allowing me access to this ARC.
Did Not Finish
May 27, 2026Thank you to Viking and Penguin for the ARC.
DNF @ 77%. This book is not what its synopsis promised. Mimosa appears on-page as Feifei's mother throughout the narrative but we don't actually get any of the "growing up in the Cultural Revolution" part until past the 50% mark, and up until 77%, where I am giving up, Feifei herself has not
struggled with gender identity in the wake of Tianamen Square" at all. She also wasn't actually raised as a boy as the synopsis says; her father called her "son" but literally no one else in her life treated her as a boy. Ah Xue's story threads throughout the book but is the only one to actually do so.
Obviously there are some very rich and turbulent family histories out there. That doesn't automatically mean that everyone is good at writing a book about them.
DNF @ 77%. This book is not what its synopsis promised. Mimosa appears on-page as Feifei's mother throughout the narrative but we don't actually get any of the "growing up in the Cultural Revolution" part until past the 50% mark, and up until 77%, where I am giving up, Feifei herself has not
struggled with gender identity in the wake of Tianamen Square" at all. She also wasn't actually raised as a boy as the synopsis says; her father called her "son" but literally no one else in her life treated her as a boy. Ah Xue's story threads throughout the book but is the only one to actually do so.
Obviously there are some very rich and turbulent family histories out there. That doesn't automatically mean that everyone is good at writing a book about them.
June 21, 2026
Brilliant debut novel, following four generations of women enduring the three most brutal chapters of Chinese history: societal upheaval following the Chinese civil war, tensions of the Cultural Revolution, and the activism and aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. Their insuppressible instinct to survive and care for their family is incredibly touching, and Kovács does an excellent job navigating Chinese history whilst remaining grounded in the women’s everyday lives and struggles for stability. The characters are incredible: raw, messy, brilliant, loving, strong, caring and alive. It explores the impact of generational trauma which lives in between lines, complexity and contradictory nature of familial love, but above all it’s the tenderness that survives through it all. It is a devastating and beautiful novel, and I am very excited for Kovacs future works.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC opportunity! A multi-generational saga of three women that have some traumatic histories. I was most interested in Ah-Zue's story, but felt like a lot was left unsaid for her. It's interesting that this is marketed as Fei Fei grappling with gender identity when she mostly is just confused as to why her father treated her like a boy growing up. I feel for it to be marketed this way there should have been more about that. I feel for each of these ladies because it really seemed like every man in their lives was a disappointment. However I did enjoy the different perspectives of each of the women, I just wish there was more of a conclusion to their story. 3.5 stars!
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
A sweeping multi-generational epic, this book tells the stories of modern China through the perceptions and experiences of three women.
From the transitions of old China to the Cultural Revolution, and later the trauma of Tiananmen Square, it conveys not only the sweeping changes that have transformed the country beyond recognition, but also what some of the costs - and benefits - of those changes have been for the individuals affected.
Moving and relatable, this one is worth checking out. It gets 3.5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
From the transitions of old China to the Cultural Revolution, and later the trauma of Tiananmen Square, it conveys not only the sweeping changes that have transformed the country beyond recognition, but also what some of the costs - and benefits - of those changes have been for the individuals affected.
Moving and relatable, this one is worth checking out. It gets 3.5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I thought I would like this more than I did. It is a generational story across much of more recent Chinese history, but I was think I was expecting more adult narrators. This is told from the POV of the daughters in each generation and they’re on the younger side which means you have to infer a lot about what it is they are witnessing. As someone who is not well-versed in Chinese history (and trying to expand my knowledge), it was harder for me to follow what historical events were happening. Not a bad story, but you should have a decent understanding of the history of this country to get the most out of it.
June 23, 2026
Nothing To My Name by Kangkang Li Kovacs
Two stories cross paths in this tale of life in China in 1948 and 1989. Ah Xue and her mother work for a wealthy client, while Feifei and her parents go through turbulent times as well.
Feifei is always called son by her father. She is a tomboy, yet female. It will take the whole story to find out why he calls her son. Ah Xue has an abbreviated childhood, as you’ll see.
It’s a complex book that takes you through the cultural changes in China with the lives of these two girls. With a satisfying conclusion, I give this book four stars and suggest it for readers interested in China during these years.
Two stories cross paths in this tale of life in China in 1948 and 1989. Ah Xue and her mother work for a wealthy client, while Feifei and her parents go through turbulent times as well.
Feifei is always called son by her father. She is a tomboy, yet female. It will take the whole story to find out why he calls her son. Ah Xue has an abbreviated childhood, as you’ll see.
It’s a complex book that takes you through the cultural changes in China with the lives of these two girls. With a satisfying conclusion, I give this book four stars and suggest it for readers interested in China during these years.
June 11, 2026
If I could read one thing for the rest of my life, it's family sagas. Nothing to My Name differed from a lot I've read in recent years in that it's largely told through the eyes of children, the daughters. I don't think anything is lost in terms of historical context (and as it's set in China during pivotal times, there is loads of historical context) and I think it works really well. The story of all four girls is told separately first but eventually, inevitably, intertwines completely seamlessly and you get to understand particular Ah Xhu and Mimosa throughout their lives.
I really, really, really enjoyed this. Beautifully written, a great debut.
Thank you to the publisher and author for the ARC.
I really, really, really enjoyed this. Beautifully written, a great debut.
Thank you to the publisher and author for the ARC.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I love multi-generational family saga stories in historical fiction. This one is focuses around three generations of Chinese women, all through the major 20th century cultural shifts in China. I think it was good at framing what many women had gone through in China during these times.
I felt connected to Fei Fei the most as she was the most fleshed out character in the novel. I would've liked to have seen this more for Mimosa. Overall, a great debut novel.
I felt connected to Fei Fei the most as she was the most fleshed out character in the novel. I would've liked to have seen this more for Mimosa. Overall, a great debut novel.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Nothing to My Name follows multiple generations of a family through 20th century China. The setting and world-building felt vivid and really drew me in. There are some tough themes throughout the book, so sensitive readers should check the content warnings, but for folks who are interested in an atmospheric and saga-esque family story might like this one. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!
Did Not Finish
June 21, 2026DNF @ 7%. The writing style is so boring. There is no way I will make it through another 300+ pages.
June 29, 2026
This wasn’t really my cup of tea but objectively it was good. I can see the appeal for people who enjoy intentionally slower paced character driven fiction.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews