The House of Little Sisters

The House of Little Sisters

  • Downloads:1402
  • Type:Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
  • Create Date:2022-02-13 06:51:44
  • Update Date:2025-09-06
  • Status:finish
  • Author:Eva Wong Nava
  • ISBN:9814882275
  • Environment:PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle

Summary

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。

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Reviews

Kopi Soh

This book had me spellbound。 The House of Little Sisters is full of very familiar cultural elements。 I especially liked the description of “pintu pagar” in the Peranakan household and what was its purpose。 The market scene brought back memories。 Transporting me back to when I was a child holding on to my mother’s hand tightly as we maneuvered the busy wet market。 And than there was the dreaded chicken place where the necks of the chosen chicken was slit and thrown into the defeathering machine s This book had me spellbound。 The House of Little Sisters is full of very familiar cultural elements。 I especially liked the description of “pintu pagar” in the Peranakan household and what was its purpose。 The market scene brought back memories。 Transporting me back to when I was a child holding on to my mother’s hand tightly as we maneuvered the busy wet market。 And than there was the dreaded chicken place where the necks of the chosen chicken was slit and thrown into the defeathering machine still squawking。 Eva’s description of the Peranakans made me smile, it was funnily accurate “the wealthy ones stick to one another like flies to rotten meat。 They’re Chinese but not Chinese。 Speak Malay but are not Malay。 Eat pork… pray to Chinese gods but act like Europeans。” This historical fiction also brought forth to my attention the existence of the 1932 Mui Tsai Ordinance which prohibits the acquisition of Mui Tsai。 Overall I truly enjoyed reading this book。 Oh last but not least I learned that the Roti John (a food I had no idea existed till a few years ago) was invented in the 1970s。 Apparently by an American sailor who had requested a South Asian hawker to make him a hamburger。 If you are looking for a book to add into your Reading List for 2022, this book is a MUST!! 。。。more