Paperback edition with 256 pages.

Product Description according to Amazon: When Chinese student Jiao Mei is woken from her sleep in her Hampstead bedroom by what appears to be the ghost of her grandmother, she dismisses the encounter as a vivid dream. But when these night-time visitations persist, and she begins to experience cravings for spicy Chinese food, and morning sickness, she comes to accept that she is being haunted and that what the ghost is telling her - that she is pregnant by her Western boyfriend - is true. Tie Mei, her grandmother, fears for her reputation, and urges Jiao Mei to abandon her London life to return to China. But Tie Mei has other business in London, old scores to settle from her past, which will shock Jiao Mei into confronting the complex nature of her own cultural heritage, and unlock secrets which have haunted her family for generations.

I found this book strolling through sy's wishlist. This wasn't the first case when I run into a great book like this. All by myself I wouldn't have found it, so I am again so grateful to BC site for having wishlist shelf. I enjoyed this story so much, I read it within 2 days, the weekend was perfect for it, I hardly did anything else just read. :)

I always loved to read Chinese family sagas.
This story wasn't an ordinary one, as it went in advance I learnt more and more about Jiao Mei, her grandmother, her mother and Barbara, their relationship, their life, the differences between the eras of China history. It was interesting to see, to compare Tie Mei's and Jiao Mei's life, how the intimacy has changed and not changed at all. The story took place within a year, but it seemed more. In my mind a cold, cool, airy space formed out, in which the characters hardly joints, nevertheless they were joined so closely, and it increased as we progressed in advance.

Jiao Mei's discovery about how the children are not aware of their parents' life, they hardly know them, they do not see them as a human was so familiar to me, since I also realized this "truth" in my own life. As we are growing up we learn more and more about our parents, and it may seem that they are not the same, that we believed of them.

The story hints us about the mother's badness, the granny's goodness, which were not true as the characters told their own story at the end, I believed her that her mother abandoned her, though her mother did, they divorced, she left Jiao Mei at her father, but nevertheless the cause of was so different as it was suggested through the story via Jiao Mei. How many times do I believe that what I see is the truth, but it turns out that I wore not proper glasses to see the reality...

I am so grateful to the writer for explaining why she wrote this book in English instead of Chinese, it helped me understand myself better. Reading English books that I could buy in Hungarian too, or reading those ones that have not been translated into Hungarian, makes me so proud, so free. I have choice, and it counts, only it counts.

My Monthly Spoiling Surprise Rabck Challenge 2010
December Winner

I sent this book to a dear friend!
Happy reading to you!

This arrived yesterday in a mysterious package together with another wishlist book, some chocolate, tea, and stickers! Thank you so much hakkalina for this wonderful surprise! You are amazing! :D
This sounds like a very interesting story, I'm looking forward to read it :)


5 June 2011: Reserved for the (second) Global Village VBB ^_^
Chosen by VictoriaWagtail

I finished reading this yesterday, and enjoyed it a lot. The writing style is beautiful, the story often feels quite atmospheric... the scents (of the flowers).. and grey, rainy London.. The story is a bit strange, as it is sort of a ghost story with a cursed mirror, which feels a bit mystical, but also about family and human relationships. The author does have a good understanding of feelings and psychology (as hakkalina mentioned above).
I also liked the bits of the old Chinese stories and history from the Grandmother (how different the times and lives were back then).

Thanks hakkalina for sharing this book with me :)

Travelling to VictoriaWagtail now (as part of the Global Village VBB).

Happy reading! ^_^

Thanks Tsjara for sending me this book it looks great :) And thank you also for the post card!