Author: Melanie Ho

Melanie Ho is the author of Journey to the West: He Hui, a Chinese Soprano in the World of Italian Opera.

Non-Fiction Reviews | Reviews
“Writing Between Languages: Translation and Multilingualism in Indian Francophone Writing” by Sheela Mahadevan
18 April 202617 April 2026
Much of the contemporary Indian literary landscape features writing in English and Indian languages, but Sheela Mahadevan points to the less-studied Francophone writing in India in Writing Between Languages: Translation and Multilingualism in Indian Francophone Writing. An academic at the University Liverpool and the English language translator of Ari Gautier’s Indian-Francophone novel Carnet secret de…
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Fiction Reviews | Reviews
“Oxford Soju Club” by Jinwoo Park
16 January 2026
In a dark alley in Oxford, Yohan finds his mentor Doha Kim stabbed. With moments left to live, Doha tells Yohan that he must go to the Soju Club and meet with Dr Ryu. These are the North Korean spymaster’s final instructions, which Yohan knows he must obey.
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Fiction Reviews | Reviews
“Salt Upon the Water” by Lyn Dickens
13 January 202617 March 2026
When Clarissa FitzRoy arrives on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island in October 1836, the heiress is met with the salty spray of the ocean.
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Fiction Reviews | Reviews
“My Grandfather, the Master Detective” by Masateru Konishi
1 January 2026
In Tokyo’s Himonya district lives Kaede’s grandfather, a former school principal with a love of mystery novels that he has passed down to his granddaughter.
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Fiction Reviews
“Lucky Seed” by Justinian Huang
8 November 20258 November 2025
The Sun family seems to have everything—a multi-squillion dollar empire, homes and compounds in prime California real estate and no shortage of power, influence, notoriety and fame. But the one thing access to the Sun family trust requires is the one thing the family doesn’t have: a male heir. But some members of the Sun…
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Non-Fiction Reviews
“Ginseng Roots: A Memoir” by Craig Thompson
15 April 202517 April 2025
For many Asian families, it might be difficult not to have a memory of ginseng. I remember my mother making tea from American ginseng and my violin teacher using it to infuse his vodka. But I can’t remember ever asking about it or even why it was continually referred to as “American” ginseng, rather than…
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Poetry Reviews
“The Magpie at Night: The Complete Poems of Li Qingzhao (1084–1151)” translated by Wendy Chen
7 March 20257 March 2025
Li Qingzhao (1084-1151 CE) is considered the greatest woman poet in Chinese history but, as translator Wendy Chen writes in her introduction, Li “remains relatively unknown in the West.” Chen, who first heard Li’s poetry as a child, is determined to help change this. The Magpie at Night is Chen’s translation of the Song-dynasty writer…
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Young Readers Reviews
“Downpour: Splish! Splash! Ker-splash!” by Yuko Ohnari and Koshiro Hata
3 March 20258 March 2025
A young boy cracks open the front door and peers outside. The dark shadows from the roof and the trees give a foreboding sense of something to come. Three umbrellas sit neatly in their holder, right by the door. The boy goes out to play.
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Young Readers Reviews
“Hokusai’s Daughter” by Sunny Seki
18 December 202420 December 2024
Sunny Seki opens his new children’s book, Hokusai’s Daughter, with Hokusai, the famous painter and printmaker from the Edo period, walking alongside his young daughter.
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Young Readers Reviews
“Pearl: A Graphic Novel” by Sherri L Smith, illustrated by Christine Norrie
18 August 2024
Like many stories, Amy’s begins long before she was born. Amy is an “all-American” young woman from Hawaii, but author Sherri L Smith and illustrator Christine Norrie start their graphic novel Pearl in 1886 in Japan, where Amy’s sosōbo (great-grandmother) is a pearl diver from Okinawa.
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Fiction Reviews
“The White Cockatoo Flowers: Stories” by Ouyang Yu
17 July 2024
In the opening short story of Ouyang Yu’s short story collection The White Cockatoo Flowers, the main character of the titular story asks himself: “If I were in China now, I would be…” The line sets the stage for a collection of stories that explore what it means to become Australian and the tensions of…
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Young Readers Reviews
“Iron Gate Hutong” by Bao Dongni
9 April 202414 April 2024
On a sunny day, a young girl skips in the courtyard of her home in Iron Gate Hutong. She’s alone, but across the alley life is busy.
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Poetry Reviews
“Chinese Fish” by Grace Yee
31 March 202431 March 2024
When Ping arrives to live in New Zealand in the 1960s, the young mother from Hong Kong is expecting “paradise”. On her first night, Ping compares her new home with her homeland.
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Young Readers Reviews
“A Wild Windy Night” by Yui Abe
23 March 202422 March 2024
As the clock approaches 8 pm, a young boy hears the howling wind and believes it is asking him to come out and play. When his mother informs him that it’s bedtime, Ricky settles down for the night. The wind, however, does not.
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Fiction Reviews
“Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect” by Benjamin Stevenson
3 February 2024
It’s the Australian Mystery Writers’ Festival and debut author Ernest Cunningham is one of the participating writers. Cunningham arrives at the festival—hosted on the Ghan, the famous train that goes from Darwin to Adelaide—following the publication of his memoir Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone (also, the title of author Benjamin Stevenson’s novel that…
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