Clay Pot and Chopsticks
“It was one o’clock in the morning, the 8th of February 1959, the year of the boar.
Jen looked up into the night sky. She
craned her neck to count her stars twinkling up in the vast heavens above and
whispered,
‘HAPPY NEW YEAR.’”
Jen is a
twelve-year-old girl who lives with her widowed mother Lian, and three younger
siblings. Lian eked a living by taking in sewing and doing the laundry for a
local hotel, by hand and in the night, with Jen’s help.
Jen attends the
only girl’s school and is expected to leave at thirteen to make way for her
younger brothers in the education stake. Her mother is unable to support all of
them in school, as education is subject to parental ability to pay.
She is a
determined and resourceful child who sees a way out; the scholarship offered by
her school for the most able child of the year. She is bullied for being
different, but she found a friend in Patricia. They share a common bond for
being different from the norm, Jen for being the daughter of a young widow, [a
dark spirit inhabits a young widow, bad karma] and Patricia because she is a
child of mixed parentage.
Jen learns about
society’s bigotry in the school playground. She copes admirably with all the
daily chores that her way of life demands. The struggles she endures in order to
stay in school, something that most people take for granted, shows her
remarkable trust and belief in herself when she is awarded the scholarship. |
Touch My Heart
" You are fine as you are. If you were my daughter, I would be so proud of you, and I am sure your Ah Ma would have said the same. You’ve had to grow up so quickly, because of your Ah Ma’s poor health. You must have missed out on being a teenager and having fun with your friends."
Jen’s life so far, to Western eyes at any rate, has been one of work, hardship and a heavy burden of responsibility. Now, for the first time, it appears that her life is her own.
As she recovers from the shock of the mother’s death, futures open out before her – college, a job, the attractions of young men and the bright lights of the capital city…. It seems that all she needs to do is learn to be young.
This is author Yong Pease’s second novel set in Malaysia, the country of her birth and once again, she leads the reader on an irresistible, magical journey full of love, tenderness, humour and danger. |