About
In the last years of her life, Teresa Lim’s mother, Violet Chang, had copies of a cherished family photograph made for those in the portrait who were still alive. The place and date on the back: Hong Kong, 1935. Teresa found herself drawn to one particular figure – her beautiful…
In the last years of her life, Teresa Lim’s mother, Violet Chang, had copies of a cherished family photograph made for those in the portrait who were still alive. The place and date on the back: Hong Kong, 1935.
Teresa found herself drawn to one particular figure – her beautiful and fierce great-aunt Fanny, who always seem to disappear from family stories.
So begins a journey into one family’s remarkable history. Part history, part-memoir, The Interpreter’s Daughter follows Lim as she pieces together the wars and disasters, ambitions and affections which pulled her ancestors across south-east Asia. Through detective work, serendipity, and the kindness of strangers, she’ll learn about sworn spinsters, ghost husbands and the working-class feminists of turn-of-the-century Singapore. And she’ll finally uncover the ordinary, extraordinary life of her great-aunt – the woman no one will talk about.