It's August of 1931 in Singapore, sixteen-year-old Lim Mei Mei (Ah Mei) arrives at the home of Eminent Mister Lee on the eve of the Hungry Ghost Month. She has been sold to the family as a mui tsai, an indentured servant girl. At the Lee household, Lim Mei Mei's life education begins. There she encounters the spirit of Ah Lian, a mui tsai, who paid the ultimate price for her mistake. Through Ah Lian, Ah Mei discovers the plight of mui tsai, who are both helpless and powerful, and uncovers a shameful secret lurking in the shadows in the Lee house. Ah Mei also meets and falls in love with Hassan Mohamed, an Indian-Muslim and an aspiring poet, breaking every clause in the rule book of love in 1930s British Malaya. She becomes Hassan's Polar Star, and the young lovers must find a way to stay together. Through a twist of fate, Ah Mei finds a solution that will keep her and Hassan together, at the same time gaining agency that will secure her own future as an uneducated servant girl in British Malaya.
The House of Little Sisters is such an engrossing read that it time-travels you to its milieu of 1930s Singapore and doesn’t let you go, till the very last page — a testimony of Eva Wong Nava’s attention to period details and exquisite storytelling skills.
Riveting and impossible to put down! Such a beautiful, exciting, bittersweet story of old Nanyang that is suffused with longing and nostalgia. The cast of characters come alive through Eva Wong Nava’s masterful storytelling, and we see the story unfold through their eyes like a waking dream. Absolutely loved it!
A gourmet tale so sumptuous and fragrant, it deserves five Michelin stars. A beautiful, haunting visceral experience. You'll savour the sights, sounds and smells of pre-WW II Singapore and be mesmerized by a cast of characters as delicately layered and sumptuously rich as a delicious kueh lapis. If this book were a dish, it would deserve five Michelin Stars. Eva Wong Nava cooks up a special tale that will be savoured by generations to come.
The House of Little Sisters is such an engrossing read that it time-travels you to its milieu of 1930s Singapore and doesn’t let you go, till the very last page — a testimony of Eva Wong Nava’s attention to period details and exquisite storytelling skills.
Riveting and impossible to put down! Such a beautiful, exciting, bittersweet story of old Nanyang that is suffused with longing and nostalgia. The cast of characters come alive through Eva Wong Nava’s masterful storytelling, and we see the story unfold through their eyes like a waking dream. Absolutely loved it!
A gourmet tale so sumptuous and fragrant, it deserves five Michelin stars. A beautiful, haunting visceral experience. You'll savour the sights, sounds and smells of pre-WW II Singapore and be mesmerized by a cast of characters as delicately layered and sumptuously rich as a delicious kueh lapis. If this book were a dish, it would deserve five Michelin Stars. Eva Wong Nava cooks up a special tale that will be savoured by generations to come.
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Penguin Books Ltd
2022
Children & YA
Historical Fiction and Teen and Young Adult