If You Still Recognise Me

Product Information

If you're wondering if this book is good, I started it at 7pm and I'd finished by midnight. I simply could not put it down. Exploring the bonds of friendship, family, fandom, culture and queer community, this is a story about finding who you really are at the heart of all the things you love."- Sera Milano, author of This Can Never Not Be Real

A beautiful and intricately layered tale of friendship, fandom and finding yourself – I absolutely adored it.” - Sophie Cameron, author of Out of the Blue Also, little pet peeve, but Elise is British yet there's a part where she says airplane. No. We say aeroplane. It really irritated me. In a summer of repairing broken connections and building surprising new ones, Elsie realises that she isn't nearly as alone as she thought. But now she has a choice to make.If You Still Recognise Me by Cynthia So is just so SO perfect. Refreshing, relatable and raw in its honesty, this is the book I wish I'd had as a queer teen discovering my identity.” - Sarah Underwood, author of Lies We Sing to the Sea The novel is truly a complex love letter to those who have grown up with fandoms as a central comfort and is a refreshing display of what representation should be. The book itself is so beautifully written and the way in which culture, sexuality and relationships are intertwined throughout the book, is so heart achingly emotional to read. We aren’t only just given over five main queer and poc teenagers, we also get to read about the reconnecting of deep relationships that will almost most definitely make you want to pull the tissues out! This is definitely a novel that makes people who feel unseen and unheard, feel represented and loved without even asking. During her last summer break before uni starts, Elsie has many plans and one of them includes telling her internet crush Ada how she feels about her. But then she suddenly meets her long-lost best friend Joan again and everything gets a little bit more complicated...

A beautiful and intricately layered tale of friendship, fandom and finding yourself - I absolutely adored it. -- Sophie Cameron, author of Out of the Blue Each relationship - familial, platonic or romantic is written with such attention to detail and precision that you get a real insight into the dynamics of each. As an own voices reviewer; the family dynamics of an East Asian family were so unashamedly raw, this - not tokenism and harmful stereotypes - is the type of representation we need. It was a book about relationships - romance is what is highlighted on the synopsis but you soon discover it is about far more; about generational trauma, uncovering family history, coming to terms with abuse and so many other key themes. If You Still Recognise Meis a moving and heart-warming story about queer love, family, culture and fandom and So's has a uniquely poetic style that sees beauty in the everyday and makes the familiar feel fresh and new.' - Ciara Smyth, author of Not My Problem Beautifully written with moments of sheer lyricism. A must-read for humans of all ages and walks of life. I loved it so much! -- Wibke Brueggemann, author of Love is for LosersIf You Still Recognise Me is a wonderful portrayal of self exploration, female and f-m friendships, the complexity of being queer in a family of colour, and struggling with familial and societal expectations. Elsie goes on a journey of introspection as she exits high school, begins navigating her love life while being a queer woman of color, healing from a toxic relationship, and growing closer to her family before she takes on university. The story is very character-driven, but I still loved the plot and how it tied into Elsie’s character development. I loved the progression of her character more than anything else in this novel. I found Cynthia So’s writing style to work really well for me. It was fast paced and really engaging. The writing style is part of what carried the book for me. It wasn’t too flowery most of the time, but Cynthia really knew when to add in lots of beautiful similes and metaphors to make certain scenes more powerful. An epic fandom, a scavenger hunt for a lost love and an ode to cultural inheritance – this is a wonderfully heartfelt and joyously queer romance” - Lauren James, author of The Loneliest Girl in the Universe

I could not get over how accurately this book portrayed what it’s like to be in a fandom space—especially when you’re a queer poc. As someone who reads and writes fanfiction, who obsesses over different forms of media in the exact same way shown in this book, I’ve never felt so seen. I’ve made many close friends online and this perfectly captured the way an online space can be freeing and online friendships can be just as important and deep as irl frienships. Also the way being in a fandom is very inclusive in a way that many queer people cannot experience irl. There were also so many great parts that explain what it's really like to grow up queer, such as distancing yourself from your family once you realise you are queer, having to convince yourself that your family does love you unconditionally, thinking it will be easier to come out once you get a girlfriend, being worried about how you dress will be perceived etc. Once again, something that made me feel seen in a way I haven't before. Cynthia So is a truly special author. In a summer of repairing broken connections and building surprising new ones, Elsie realises that she isn't nearly as alone as she thought. But now she has a choice to make... The Primary School Library Alliance is calling on the government to match-fund the private investment it has brought into helping primary schools c... A lyrical, complex tale of friendship, family, and all the stories we tell ourselves - true and not - about what it means to love - Kelly Loy Gilbert, author of When We Were Infinite

Exploring the bonds of friendship, family, fandom, culture and queer community, this is a story about finding who you really are at the heart of all the things you love.” - Sera Milano, author of This Can Never Not Be Real Elsie is a Chinese-British girl who's family come from Hong Kong but lives in Oxford. She's bi but not out to her family, and crushing on Ada, a girl from America she met online because they both ship the same f/f couple in their fav comic. Her Po Po (Grandma) is coming to stay with them after the death of her Gung Gung (Grandad) in Hong Kong, even though the family have not been to visit for 8 years for reasons Elsie doesn't understand. Then she surprises runs into Joan, her childhood best friend who left for Hong Kong when they were kids, and fell completely out of touch.