Title: All That Holds Between
Author: SJ Lee
Publisher: Pew Books
Genre: Speculative fiction, futuristic, fantasy
Release Date: 7th April 2026
BLURB
Life runs efficiently when nothing hurts.
In Meiyu, people clip away their heaviest emotions and store them in memory drives so life can continue neatly and undisturbed. Lena is a courier who delivers these sealed fragments across the island, her days defined by routine, distance, and careful neutrality.
When one delivery goes wrong, a defective drive activates in her hands. The feelings inside are not hers and were never meant to surface. Ignoring protocol, Lena follows its pull through the city, through night markets scented with scallion and fried dough, into noodle shops, and the quiet generosity of neighbours' kitchens, where lives brush against one another. With each step, the walls she's built around herself begin to thin.
REVIEW
I have seen various different covers for this book ranging from quite abstract ones to simplistic ones alluding to Lena’s job as a courier.
All That Holds Between is set in Meiyu a futuristic world where you can put any unwanted emotions on a chip at the Halcyon Integrated Wellness company, the chip can then be destroyed or stored for a monthly cost with the possibility of being restored at a later date.
Lena was once an 'Affect Technician' but was then demoted and is now a courier transporting the chips between clients & the Halcyon depot. Lena has her route already planned out for her down to the minute and if she isn’t on time there are consequences! Even her breaks are meticulously planned and she is more or less forced to take them when told to do so. Lena is on her best behaviour at work she has already had a warning, if she were to get more she could be demoted again to an even lesser job.
Lena prefers to use her bike much to her supervisor Mr Peng’s irritation as he regularly offers her the company vehicle to use especially on bad weather days. It’s on a particularly rainy day that Lena comes across a faulty chip and when circumstances mean she is unable to deliver it she takes it home with her which is expressly forbidden.
Lena has an old machine that she trained to be an Affect Technician on and it’s not long before curiosity gets the better of her and she ends up putting the defective chip in it and experiencing the chips owner’s memory.
Lena becomes obsessed with finding a food stall featured in the memory which leads her to talking to Runi who owns the restaurant she regularly eats ate, resulting in the women becoming closer friends rather than just acquaintances.
By the end of the novella Lena realises that her true obsession is not the defective chip she has viewed but a memory that she chose to have removed, put on a chip and destroyed.
I found the idea of putting undesired memories on a chip a fascinating idea and would have loved some other memories & chips to be explored, though as this is a novella and Lena was given a different job near the end of it which would put her in a position where she would be in contact with peoples memories on a regular and legitimate basis, so I guess there’s the potential for more after this novella. I’d be interested in reading more in this world setting.
Lena seems a rather sad and lonely character only going to and from work with no friends her own age or family around her, though her neighbour does look out for her and cooks “too much” food meaning there is always plenty leftover for Lena. Then slowly through conversations Lena has with her neighbour about the neighbour’s loss of a loved one and her evolving relationship with Runi that Lena reveals her own background and the memory she had removed and destroyed.
Immediate thoughts were that I enjoyed reading the novella, but I wished that it had explored more chips and their content. It could have been so much more.
Summing up, though this novella centred mainly round just one character, Lena, it also revealed quite a lot about those around her too. I loved the concept of having memories, feelings & emotions removed and placed on a chip. Could I do it? I don’t think I would as even our bad, painful memories have value and are an integral part of us. Overall, I did enjoy the novella and I would be interested in reading more set in this world.
