Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Turnstone Press (2000), 224 pages
Description
In Kwa's debut novel, four narrators tell two stories, one of a contemporary Chinese-Canadian psychologist mourning the death of her father, another of two Chinese prostitutes in early 20th century Singapore.
Awards
Lambda Literary Award (Nominee — 2002)
Amazon.ca First Novel Award (Shortlist — 2000)
ReLit Award (Shortlist — Novel — 2001)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
218 p.
ISBN
0888012438 / 9780888012432
Call number
LIT.KWL.TPC
Library's review
Four narrators tell two stories, one of a contemporary Chinese-Canadian psychologist mourning the death of her father, another of two Chinese prostitutes in early 20th-century Singapore. As the novel opens in 1994, Wu Lan has just begun a year's leave of absence from the Vancouver, B.C., clinic
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where she sees patients: her father committed suicide at home in Singapore, and Wu Lan has had a breakdown after returning from the funeral. To distract herself, she begins researching the sex trade in Singapore, and Kwa introduces three other narrators: Lee Ah Choi, whose parents sell her into prostitution for three sacks of rice; Chow Chat Mui, who flees her father's sexual abuse only to find herself tricked into prostitution; and Mahmee, Wu Lan's mother, who grieves over her husband's death and her daughter's flight from her native city. Show Less
Pages
218