TCK author Ann Liang grew up between China and Australia and draws on her own childhood experiences to write “If You Could See the Sun,” a fun YA romance novel set in Beijing. The book is about Alice, a Chinese/ American scholarship student at an elite Beijing boarding school. Surrounded by wealthy students, Alice is focused on her grades and set on beating her academic rival Henry. Then suddenly Alice goes from unpopular nobody to actually invisible. She can’t control when she turns invisible but still decides to use her powers for something useful and starts a lucrative side-business. As the jobs she takes become higher and higher stakes, she has to decide what she can justify for the sake of income.
It’s definitely a fun read, and I loved the chemistry between the academic rivals. The ending was a bit morally questionable and there is a good amount of swearing, so if you’re put off by that take note. No sex scenes, just a kiss. I’d recommend this book for high schoolers or older, though some middle schoolers would enjoy it as well.
This isn’t written as a “TCK book” but instead marketed to a wider audience. I enjoyed the international school context and seeing some reflections from the main character on being bi-cultural and the way moving countries affected her. The TCK themes are more subtle since the focus is on the characters and the plot. This book actually came to my attention in a list of other YA fiction since it’s a genre I enjoy reading for fun, and I noticed that the main character happened to be a TCK!
