William lost his mother but not to death. He knew in his heart that she was still alive and he would find her some day, but he had to escape from the orphanage to do that. He knew that there was a reason she abandoned him because his mother wouldn't have left him without a good reason.


William knew nothing of his mother's past but it didn't matter. He had to find her. He and his friend Charlotte planned how to escape from the orphanage to find her. William was a kind, sweet boy just like his mother. You will feel so sorry for Liu Song and William as well since he had to live without his mother for five years when she was actually alive and close by. Most of the characters were sad and unhappy, but the book is exceptional.


SONGS OF WILLOW FROST tells the tale of Liu Song and her life of sadness, loneliness, and betrayal. Her life was not pleasant. Liu Song had to endure hardship and a cruel stepfather who made her call him Uncle because he was disappointed and embarrassed that she wasn't a boy. She also had to live with the stigma that her mother who was onstage was deemed no better than a prostitute.


You will feel Liu Song's pain, hopelessness, and humiliation ooze through the pages as Mr. Ford beautifully weaves between past and present. Beautiful like the good heart of Liu Song.

You will be immersed in old-world traditions as you follow Liu Song through her day being treated as a slave instead of a daughter. You will feel her pain as the inevitable happened to her because of her step-father's visits at night and her sadness as she had to give up happiness. You will HATE Uncle Leo because he is the one who caused all of Liu Song's problems.

SONGS OF WILLOW FROST was skillfully written in Mr. Ford's descriptive, flowing style and also very heart wrenching. I felt myself wanting to push Liu Song to tell the truth about what really happened to her and to move on so she could have some happiness in her life instead of despair. Mr. Ford allows you to feel as though you are right there feeling the emotions and living the lives the characters are leading.

SONGS OF WILLOW FROST was about making decisions, living with regrets, and longing for what some folks have and what you were deprived of.

SONGS OF WILLOW FROST is haunting, heartbreaking, and hard to believe yet mesmerizing. Mr. Ford’s marvelous talent won’t disappoint in his second book. 5/5

This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by the publisher in return for an honest review.

This book was very readable but incredibly sad. The author brings you into the characters' lives with great descriptions. But the plot is so sad. and after a long telling of the tale the end is abrupt. And you are left to deduce your own ending. (Similar to his first novel)

The book was a little dramatic because nothing tugs at the heart of a person like a story that involves a child, especially one that a person feels is being abused. It also held a note of being informative. While I am aware that life in an orphanage, esp during the time period of the book, could not be good, it brought to life that kind of life. It also opened my eyes to some of the traditions of the Chinese culture that I was unfamiliar with. However, even with the happy ending, the book leaned toward gloomy and depressive. I really just wanted to shake Liu Song, hug William, and kiss Charlotte. I did enjoy \'Song...Frost it but liked Hotel On The Corner of Bitter and Sweet much more. It seemed as if more energy was put into the writing of \'Hotel...\' and maybe so as it was his first novel.

The year is 1924. Willow Frost, aka Liu Song is a single mother living in Seattle, trying to make ends meet. When her mother died, Liu lived with her stepfather who impregnated her, but she never told him about the pregnancy. She left him and raised the child, William Eng, in secret. Meanwhile, she now has a boyfriend, Colin Kwan, and both of them are aspiring actors. Colin knew his way around, and he helped her get bit parts and showed her the ropes, hoping they would be discovered. William is crazy about Colin, and he is crazy about William. Suddenly, though, Colin’s father is taken ill. When he is summoned back to China, to take over the family business, she discovers he is also betrothed to another woman, in China. It is an arranged marriage made years ago. He promises to write and to return.

To make ends meet, when she can’t get acting jobs, Liu takes a job singing in a piano store. The economy is failing. When social service comes to interview her, and reveals that in the case of a single mother, if there is a husband he may legally claim custody of the child, Willow begs the woman not to reveal her child to Leo Eng, owner of the Jefferson Laundry, explaining he was her stepfather. The woman is a cold-hearted caricature of someone who should not be in the field of social service. She is judgmental, beset with prejudices and lacking in compassion, the very antithesis of the kind of person who would enhance the profession.
When Liu loses her job because of the depression, she becomes destitute and is forced to go to Leo Eng, who had previously threatened to take William from her. To keep her child, she agrees to work for him. She becomes his escort and accompanies him and accommodates him in business arrangements, in many ways. She would do anything for William. Soon, though, she discovers she is pregnant again. Before she begins to show, Colin returns and asks her to marry him, but he already has one wife in China. That very night, she suffers a miscarriage and passes out in the bathtub. William, who is just six years old, discovers her. She is taken to a hospital where the doctor refuses to treat her and sends her to a sanitarium. There, she is visited by the social worker again. She gives her a choice to give the child to her stepfather or an orphanage. She must give William up forever or she will not be released. Rather than see him with her stepfather, she gives him up to the orphanage.
Time passes and it is now 1934. William is 12 years old. In the orphanage, all the boys have a communal birthday, and on that day, they are allowed to speak about their family, and if there is a letter, one is chosen for them. Correspondence is not otherwise shared, since most of the children have been given up permanently, and the nuns do not believe they should have any contact with their families. On that day, they also go to see a movie and get special treats. While watching the movie, William recognizes the voice of an actress in the film. It is his mother. He had not realized she was still alive. Sunny, Williams very close friend, encourages William to find his mother. William also has a very dear friend, Charlotte, who is blind and who wants to run away with him. As those events play out, Sister Briganti decides to give William a letter from his mother. She also gives him money for transportation. His mother will meet him at the Bush Hotel, where they used to live.

Willow takes him to one of her films, explains all of the things that have happened to her that led her to give him up, and then she disappears, before the film ends. He returns to the orphanage and buries the newspaper article about his mother and a picture of his mother, at a close friend’s gravesite.

There is a pattern of injustice that runs through this story which, in hindsight, is difficult to justify in any way. The themes of hardship, poverty and despair during the time of the great depression, did not feel as well developed, but will touch the reader’s hearts. At the end, the author revealed that the book was based a bit on his own background, his family’s experiences and the experiences of the orphans during The Great Depression. The story is, therefore, enlightening, in many ways, in spite of the fact that I didn’t feel as engaged as I would have liked. I think the characters could have been more fully developed, since I did not feel the expected emotional attachment to them. I felt, rather, as if I was always skimming the surface of the story and not completely immersed in it. The tragic and traumatic events seemed to occur kind of matter-of-factly, and so I felt no connecting thread. I do believe, though, that the author exposed the biased atmosphere that existed in this country, and on the other side of the coin, he revealed an atmosphere in which there was a refusal to give up the hope of having one’s dreams come true. Also, the reader did an admirable job.

Difficult to read; but enjoyable. Rather dark and sad. Not my favorite.

The book was a fast good read. Rather tragic. At least the son does meet his mother.

An excellent read, good development of plot and character. Lead to a good discussion of life changes.

I did not realize that children were put into orphanages when their parent's could not provide for them. It was a telling story form an orphan's point of view and his mother's dilemmas.

The book was very well written and easily read. The character development for some secondary characters could have been better. The ending was a bit abrupt. Overall the book was very good and I enjoyed reading it.

This second novel by Jamie Ford lived up to expectations. The characters were well written, and their actions were understandable even if we didn't always approve of them. A very satisfying, emotional reading experience.