Growing conflicts between Sue Chow and her cruel mother-in-law, Ying, erupt just as Sue’s marriage is heading toward divorce. When Ying gets injured and selfishly demands Sue nurse her, their explosive situation becomes a scandal in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Sue struggles between honouring ancient Chinese traditions and asserting herself as a modern-day woman.
Meanwhile, San Francisco newlyweds, Michael Hamilton, and new bride, Jennie are honeymooning in Kauai unaware a business rival is devising an evil plot for revenge to ruin Michael’s reputation and business.
Otherworldly spirits unite the mystical Qi of scholarly Grandfather, compassionate Tong, and Tong’s wife, Mei-li, endeavoring to intervene with those on Earth and resolve both dilemmas.
My rating:
This was the first time I’d read anything by Leslie Bratspis and so I didn’t know what to expect. Whenever you encounter a new author, it’s both exciting and strange as you begin to understand they’re writing style, and they’re storytelling techniques. This is evident in the way an author constructs their sentences, describes characters, delivers speech and draws you into the story.
With Bratspis’ writing, I found that I was immediately drawn in to her slow, steady pace of storytelling. It’s like literally stepping into a whole other world and finding that you’re there with the characters.
I loved how she was able to do this and whether I was reading on the train, or at home, I could pick up from where I left off and get lost in the story straight away.
We have quite a few characters in this Book, but there’s never a situation where you feel confused or out of your depth, quite the obvious. I felt like I got to know the characters very well and just really wanted to find out how they were all related.
For me, this book is a true show of skill. Even afterwards, I was still discovering surprising ways in which the story fitted together without realising it at the time. The way the lives of the characters mirror each other.
There are some strong themes running through this book and I think it really enhances the experience of reading. It’s almost like you feel enlightened at the end.
A great read, would highly recommend.
You can buy the book here.
