An Orange, A Syllable
by Gillian Sze
ARC Review
A Lyrical Reflection on Motherhood, Language, and Identity
Publisher: a misFit Books and ECW Press
Release Date: September 2, 2025
Format: ARC Review
An Orange, A Syllable by Gillian Sze is one of the most beautiful and emotionally resonant works I’ve read in a long time. As a mother, I found myself deeply moved by the way Sze captures the wonder, confusion, and transformation that come with early parenthood.
This is prose steeped in poetry, tender, precise, and full of breath. She reflects on her child’s language in a way that felt achingly familiar: the joyful strangeness of new words, the frustration before speech arrives, the fierce attentiveness required in those early days. Her writing transported me back to when my own children were just beginning to find their voices. That space between silence and understanding. It’s all here, rendered with such grace.
Sze also explores the quiet shifts in her relationship with her partner as they navigate new roles and responsibilities. It’s subtle and honest, never overly sentimental, and all the more powerful for it. There’s a keen sensitivity to how identity expands, not just as a mother, but as a woman, and a partner in transition.
What makes this book especially rich is how she weaves in references to art as a way of seeing and not as a decoration. These visual cues help the reader step inside her world, to witness the ordinary and the extraordinary coexisting in the most fragile moments.
I loved this work. It gave shape to feelings and memories I hold with joy and nostalgia but never thought to articulate. It’s beautiful, deeply touching, and remarkably relatable, especially for readers who value quiet, reflective writing that lingers long after the last page.
Thank you to a misFit Books and ECW Press for the ARC and the opportunity to read this early.
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