Description
Shadowed by the unhappiness of his warring parents, a broad-minded mother who, like her son, was keen to embrace all things Chinese, and a bigoted father who was enraged by his family's interest in 'going native', Martin Booth's compelling memoir is a journey into Chinese culture and an extinct colonial way of life.
A classic memoir... the voice of the youthful narrator carries the reader on in a wonderfully honest tone... Booth has delivered a pre-coming-of-age book that ranks with the best of the breed. The writing is superb... it is a more than worth legacy to his prolific literary life, but also stands as one of the most original and engaging memoirs of recent years, all the more telling because it is so personal, witty and true
Admirably evocative... one longs to learn what happened next; but, alas, we never will
It has such pace and power... his memoir is, above all, a celebration... the portrait of his parents... is particularly fine
Highly evocative... as a sharp-eyed, sensitive child of a vanished Hong Kong, Booth earns his nostalgia... his family are not the only ones who will enjoy the book
His finest work. Full of local colour and packed with incident
Martin Booth is internationally known as a writer and biographer. An acclaimed novelist, his The Industry of Souls was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1998. When he was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2002 he was inspired to delve into his Hong Kong childhood and write Gweilo. He died in February 2004, shortly after completing the manuscript