American cartoonist Feign (The Flower Boat Girl) takes a tender look at the Hong Kong village he calls home in this whimsical memoir. Blending diary-like dispatches and vivid photographs, Feign presents a loving portrait of Wang Tong, the village on the southern coast of Lantau Island in the South China Sea where he’s lived since 1991, after moving from mainland Hong Kong with his wife and sons. With a population under 300, “even the local police don’t know where we are,” Feign writes. Through profiles of his neighbors, including Wang Tong’s last living farmer and the village’s elected chief, he captures the villagers’ intimacy and interreliance in such rosy terms it’s liable to stir envy in readers, though he also takes note of construction projects across Lantau that threaten the environmental stability in Wang Tong. Even with those worries, however—plus Feign’s admission that dilapidated homes and garbage-strewn streets make Wang Tong far from picturesque (“Appearances aren’t a major concern for most villagers”)—what emerges is a poignant love letter to community and life’s small pleasures. This has charm to spare. Photos. (Aug.)

Correction: A previous version of this review incorrectly described the book as self-published.