Little Wonder
Author: Chen Keller, Sophie
ISBN: 9780241845516
Publisher: Penguin UK
Year first published: 28 Jul 2026
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback / softback
A musical prodigy and his mother spend years searching for each other in this beautiful, sweeping novel of hope, perseverance, and love
Song is a nobody-just a food delivery worker from a village in Northeastern China-but her son, River, is a little wonder.
At the age of three, he toddled to a piano and tapped out his favourite song. At five, he mastered Liszt's three Liebestr ume; at eight, he blazed through the complete set of Chopin's etudes. And at every step, through loss, illness and poverty, Song has been there to light his way-until finally, at the age of eleven, River is invited to study with a preeminent teacher in Beijing.
But in the chaos of Beijing Railway Station on the busiest day of the year, Song faces every mother's nightmare: she loses her grip on River's little hand and is unable to find him after a desperate, harrowing search.
Over the next days, weeks, and eventually, years, Song and River fight to forge a path back to each other as they carve out new lives that carry them farther apart. An evocative exploration of a mother's love and a son's yearning, Little Wonder takes us on an extraordinary journey through a modern Beijing that pulses with the music of humanity and its impossible-and impossibly brave-hopes.
As every musician knows: You start in one key. You wander to other keys, strange and distant places. But in the end, you always come back home.
ISBN: 9780241845516
Publisher: Penguin UK
Year first published: 28 Jul 2026
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback / softback
A musical prodigy and his mother spend years searching for each other in this beautiful, sweeping novel of hope, perseverance, and love
Song is a nobody-just a food delivery worker from a village in Northeastern China-but her son, River, is a little wonder.
At the age of three, he toddled to a piano and tapped out his favourite song. At five, he mastered Liszt's three Liebestr ume; at eight, he blazed through the complete set of Chopin's etudes. And at every step, through loss, illness and poverty, Song has been there to light his way-until finally, at the age of eleven, River is invited to study with a preeminent teacher in Beijing.
But in the chaos of Beijing Railway Station on the busiest day of the year, Song faces every mother's nightmare: she loses her grip on River's little hand and is unable to find him after a desperate, harrowing search.
Over the next days, weeks, and eventually, years, Song and River fight to forge a path back to each other as they carve out new lives that carry them farther apart. An evocative exploration of a mother's love and a son's yearning, Little Wonder takes us on an extraordinary journey through a modern Beijing that pulses with the music of humanity and its impossible-and impossibly brave-hopes.
As every musician knows: You start in one key. You wander to other keys, strange and distant places. But in the end, you always come back home.
