One of Ms. Magazine’s Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2024

A powerful coming-of-age graphic novel about how mothers and daughters pass down—and rebel against—standards of size, gender, race, beauty, and worth.

Guangdong, 1954 Sixteen-year-old Mei Laan longs for a future of freedom, and her beauty may be the key to getting it. Can an arranged marriage in Hong Kong be the answer to all her problems?

Hong Kong, 1972 Sixteen-year-old Lydia wants nothing more than to dance and to gain approval from her mother, who is largely absent and sharply critical, especially about the way she looks. Maybe her way to happiness is starting over in Toronto?

Toronto, 2000 Sixteen-year-old Roz is grappling with who she wants to be in the world. The only thing she is certain of is that if she were thinner, things would be better. How can she start living her life, instead of just photographing it?

When Roz’s estranged por por abruptly arrives for a seemingly indefinite visit, three generations are now under one roof. Delicate relationships are suddenly upended, and long-suppressed family secrets begin to surface.

Award-winning creator of Living With Viola Rosena Fung pulls from her own family history in her YA debut to give us an emotional and poignant story about how every generation is affected by those that came before, and affect those that come after.

“Moving and emotional.” —Victoria Ying, Harvey Award–winning author of Hungry Ghost

“Crucial.” —Deb JJ Lee, creator of In Limbo

“Beautiful.” —Fiona Smyth, illustrator of Sex Is a Funny Word

Content Warning: body image, disordered eating.

ROSENA FUNG is an award-winning illustrator and comic artist from Toronto, Ontario. Her debut graphic novel, Living With Viola, received several starred reviews and was included on best of the year lists from the New York Public Library, School Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, the Bank Street College of Education, and more. Living With Viola was also nominated for the Silver Birch Award, the Jean Little First-Novel Award, the Garden State Teen Book Award, the Panda Book Awards, and the Black-Eyed Susan Book Award. Besides creating graphic novels, Rosena's favorite things are reading, cats, and eating snacks.

Rosena Fung's profile page

“[A] poignant tale of generational strife, rebellion, and self-acceptance.”

Publishers Weekly, *starred review, 04/18/24

“An affecting story of family estrangement, body shaming, and the journey to self-acceptance.”

Kirkus Reviews, 04/15/24

“[T]he emotional weight of each of the teens’ lives at a tender age is captured with authenticity and realism . . . Getting to see three lives unfold in different locations and times is a gift Fung eloquently unwraps in this graphic novel that increases the visibility of AAPI stories in books for teens.”

School Library Journal, 05/24

“With its unique multigenerational approach, Age 16 expertly tackles perceptions of weight, self-worth and parental conflict.”

BookPage, *starred review, 07/24

“In creating empathic art, Fung alchemizes painful personal history into an empowering homage ‘to help us realize we’re already who we’re supposed to be.’”

Booklist, 05/01/24