From the inside cover: "Chinatown, Vancouver, in the late 1930's and '40's provides the setting for this poignant first novel, told through the vivid and intense reminiscences of the three younger children of an immigrant family. They each experience a very different childhood, depending on age and sex, as they encounter the complexities of birth and death, love and hate, kinship and otherness.
Mingling with the realities of Canada and the horror of war are the magic, ghosts, paper uncles and family secrets of Poh-Poh, or Grandmother, who is the heart and pillar of the family."
This book has a georgeous cover - it's different from the one depicted here.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Placed in the Tea, Read and Journal bookbox. I hope whoever chooses this book enjoys a good story, written by a local author. Enjoy!

Took this out of Mozette's Tea and Books Bookbox to read and pass on.

A very fine book, it tells the story of a Chinese family in the late 1930's/early 1940's living in ChinaTown in Vancouver, Canada. The story is told through 3 of the 4 children in the family. Each child tells his story separately and it makes for very interesting reading. The family and community is seen through the eyes of each child, and the differences in the children's viewpoint is fascinating. I really loved reading it. In some ways it reminded me of the story of the four sons we read during the Pesach Seder, but with Chinese children and culture. Because of the years in which the story is set the background is WWII, the war in China as the Japanese invaded, and how that war affected the Chinese and Japanese populations of Canada. The ending of the book was sad but poignant.

Mailed to a friend in Vancouver who expressed an interest in reading it.