Longlisted, Canada Reads

Born on the lush island nation of Mahana, Fred lives under the tyrannical rule of a book-burning king. Under the kings rule, Mahanians are controlled by a military dictatorship and threatened with forced starvation, while people with disabilities are exiled. After Freds father suddenly disappears, Fred joins an underground movement of dissenters and becomes an unwitting global icon in the fight for Mahanian freedom. When he is recruited and relocated by an organization that appears sympathetic to Freds cause, he arrives in a seemingly peaceful foreign nation, where the impact of social media and technology creates a new, stranger struggle.

A dystopian thriller, a speculative fiction, and a coming-of-age story, Wongs novel thrums with biting bursts of staccato-like prose a fitting accompaniment to a fascinating exploration of contrasting political systems. As Fred unpeels layers of truth and sees beyond the optics of altruism and the illusion of choice, Slice the Water unpacks the myriad amplifying impacts of technology, addiction, and complacency.

Author

PP Wong is an author, screenwriter and editor. Her debut novel, The Life of a Banana, was nominated for the Womens Prize for Fiction and was critically acclaimed in The Daily Mail, The Guardian, The Independent, Marie Claire, la Repubblica and Vanity Fair. Wong has a degree in Anthropology and Law from The London School of Economics. She completed an MFA at the University of British Columbia, where she received the celebrated Cordula and Gunter Paetzold Fellowship.

Born in the UK, PP Wong is now rooted in Vancouver. Slice the Water is her second novel.

Awards

Longlisted: Canada Reads

Reviews

A twisty adventure story with endearing, heart-melting characters. Slice the Water is a biting Swiftian satire that critiques both book-burning despots and well-meaning techno-progressive elites. PP Wong sweeps her readers up in a universe that feels uniquely alive and wondrously imagined one that brilliantly reveals our own world. Kevin Chong, author of The Double Life of Benson Yu

Wong has the preternatural gift of making the strange familiar and the familiar strange. The world of this novel is a refracted version of our own, with themes of suppression, addiction, celebrity, grief, and love made slightly more magical and slightly more monstrous, but always smart, witty, and relevant. This novel is a knockout. Annabel Lyon, author of Consent

You may think you recognize the world of PP Wongs Slice the Water: the oppressive whims of a tyrant dictator; an under-resourced small country whose suffering is hidden from the world stage. But the novel is on every page surprising and keenly imagined in its world-building. The stakes are dire. You care deeply about the fate of this village. Youre fearful in the face of the hopeful navet of the teenage protagonist and his friends as they learn about the danger and corruption in the world around them. Slice the Water is a tough story, yet a feast to read. Nalo Hopkinson, author of Blackheart Man

If the best dystopian fiction reflects the world we live in, Vancouver-based author PP Wongs second novel does this with one chilling introductory line. Thankfully, the authors coming-of-age story lives up to its opening, with strong world-building despite a relatively slim 264 pages and characters you can actually care about…. Part of what makes Slice the Water work is a brisk pace that still takes its time in its more meaningful moments. Winnipeg Free Press

Details

264 pages
Pub date: September 9, 2025