Hello Book dragons! It’s your friendly fellow book dragon @bookarlo here once again! đź‘‹
We are almost at the end of March! How has your reading been going? How many books did you manage to read this month?
In March we observed Women History Month and there were so many stunning books written by women that I got to explore!
It’s been a while since I read a Historical Fiction and the last one that I truly enjoyed with all my heart was The Yellow Bird Sings. I recently read Dearest Intimate along with 200+ book lovers from around the globe for @tandemcollectiveglobal and @tandemcollectiveuk’s global readalong. Reading this book was such an overwhelming experience that it took me a while to finish the book. Now, I am someone who is highly sensitive and reading historical fiction has always been challenging since the entire reading experience can be overtly emotional. But despite the overwhelming experience, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Dearest Intimate.
A multi-layered tale that explores the myriad facets of love, intimidation and reconciliation
The famous cross-dressing Cantonese opera singer, Chan Kam Foong, passes away, leaving her secret journal to her granddaughter, Xiu Yin, an archival officer at the Singapore National Archives.
Xiu Yin reads through the journal that chronicles her grandmother’s relationship with Dearest Intimate in their village in China to their respective escapes to the Nanyang before WWII and her desperate search for Dearest Intimate in Singapore. Her grandmother’s reflections and letters to Dearest Intimate forces Xiu Yin to examine her marriage to an abusive husband and she plucks up the courage to leave him.
A surprise encounter with her first love, a rising Cantonese opera singer, brings a period of calm and joy. But when Meng proposes marriage, Xiu Yin backs off and he leaves for Hong Kong. It takes three years of loneliness and letter writing before they reunite again.
Trigger Warnings: Domestic Violence, Physical and Mental Abuse, Sexual Assault, Child Loss, Suicidal tendencies, Alcoholism.
Set against the transformative era of Singapore when low-rise slums gradually turned to high-rise apartment blocks, Dearest Intimate is an intergenerational story that explores the many facets of ‘Intimacy’, Love, Sisterhood and Spousal Abuse. The narrative switches between the past and the present and the dual POV enhances the experiences of women spanning three generations.
When Xiu Yin discovers her grandmother’s journal, she is overcome with a myriad of emotion: first, disbelief that her grandmother, Chan Kam Foong, the famous Cantonese opera actress, had a ‘Dearest Intimate’ whom she had been searching for in Singapore after their parting in China; second, courage to leave her abusive marriage after reading about her grandmother’s many daring feats that challenged the society’s expectations of women in the rural pre-war China and the harrowing effects of the Japan occupation. The letters unfold Xiu Yin’s grandmother’s struggle as a cross-dressing opera actress in a Japanese occupied China where bombing and massacres were everyday news.
When Xiu Yin reads about Chan Kam Foong’s heartfelt confessions, her persuasive contemplations, and her decisive actions in her letters, it pushes Xiu Yin to take action on her own life situations — reunite with her daughter and find answers of her mother’s death as well as put an end to her abusive marriage.
The writing is so poignant and vivid that it would tug on the heartstrings of the readers. The honest portrayal of the characters is thought-provoking, reflective and acts as a reminder to define our own destinies despite societal norms.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Malaysia in 1948, grew up on both sides of the causeway that separates Malaysia from Singapore. Came to Singapore at age 14, studied in the Convent of the Holy Infant Jesus schools, and the National University of Singapore. Taught in a junior college and worked as a curriculum specialist in the Ministry of Education. Resigned in 2003 to write full time.
For review requests, collabs and promotional enquiries, please email me at query.sohinee@gmail.com or reach out to me on Instagram @bookarlo.
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Signing off,
Sohinee aka bookarlo
Sohinee Reads & Reviews 
By coincidence, my March was largely taken up by a very different family saga – Vanity Fair from 1848
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What a coincidence! Did you enjoy the book?
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I did. Just in case you haven’t seen this: https://derrickjknight.com/2024/03/29/vanity-fair/
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