Sweet Offerings by Chan Ling Yap

Synopsis:  Set between the late 1930s and 1960s, this is the tale of Mei Yin, a young Chinese girl from an impoverished family.  Her destiny is shaped when she is sent to Kuala Lumpur to become the ward and companion of the tyrannical and bitter Su Hei who is looking for a suitable wife for her son Ming Kong ... and ultimately a grandson and heir to the family dynasty.

Sweet Offerings is not just a fictional story of the events that ripped one family apart, but a taste of Malaysia's historical, political and cultural changes during its transition from colonial rule to independence and beyond.

My thoughts:  I picked this book to read to herald in the year of the metal rabbit celebrated by Chinese people all over the world on 3 February 2011.  Yes, it is Chinese New Year!  We welcome this festival which observes age-old traditions meant to attract wealth, prosperity, success, joy, peace and good health for all.

This book is full of Malaysian flavour in the way it is written, the evocation of place and time, the ambience, the insight into its racial and cultural ties, descriptions of places and scenes, the languages (multilingualism) and the indigenous food that induces hunger pangs and curiosity.  A very down-to-earth book with down-to-earth characters whom you cannot help but be drawn to.  It has certainly been an absorbing and enjoyable read.  I agree with this reader's comments.

I also cannot help but be aware that most books by Malaysian and even Singaporean authors are largely based on the past especially from or around the time of colonial rule to its independence.  I appreciate that that period of time in Malaysia is significant to its peoples and I do enjoy reading and re-reading different versions by different authors but my concern is that there is hardly any crime fiction books in Malaysia, Shamini Flint being the only author I know who has published three of her Inspector Singh series set in Asia.  Perhaps there will be a comparable balance in the near future as more and more local authors come to realize this deficit.  An interesting essay by Shamini Flint about the lack of crime fiction in Malaysia can be read here.

I purchased this book during my trip to Kuala Lumpur two months ago.  More information on the author, reviews or extracts of the book can be found on the Sweet Offerings' website.

About the author:  Born in Kuala Lumpur, Chan Ling Yap was educated in Malaysia and subsequently in England where she obtained a PhD in Economics.  She lectured at the University of Malaya before joining the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, where she worked for nearly two decades.  She now lives in the UK with her husband and two grown-up children.

A widely published author of various textbooks and technical papers, her foray into fiction was highly praised for its beautiful evocation of Asia.

For more information, visit chanlingyap.com

Rating:  3/5