A beautifully written exploration of identity, love and loss set against the social upheaval created by the rise of Singapore.
An Asian-American Music professor, Ping, is going back to Singapore to visit to her mother following a period of estrangement. During the journey she reflects on her youth which seems like another lifetime.
Teenage Ping left Singapore and her boyfriend Weng abruptly to go and study in the US where she created another life for herself. When she meets him again in Singapore, old memories are stirred up and secrets demand to be told.
“… just as the best novels should be but so rarely are: like immersion in a vivid dream. I couldn’t decide whether to read it slowly in order to savour every word, or to race along, mesmerised by Lim’s dazzling story-telling.”
“ – powerful, deep and moving – draws you in and pulls you along irresistibly. Its heartfelt swell will carry you away to a place of passion and resonant conviction.”
“… a winning coming of age novel that bridges the years and countries. Here is the buoyancy of sentences and a testimony of resilience.”
“A touching story that retrieves Singapore’s fast disappearing past and gives its famous river the depth and colour of a people’s history, and a wonderful rendition of the pipa, on the page, as mother and daughter play their songs from the heart.”
