{"id":22596,"date":"2014-02-13T10:32:52","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T15:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=22596"},"modified":"2014-04-17T20:46:04","modified_gmt":"2014-04-17T20:46:04","slug":"the-ghost-bride-by-yangsze-choo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-ghost-bride-by-yangsze-choo\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ghost<\/a>Hauntings, posthumous marriage proposals, addictions, not-quite-human heroes, in-between spirits growing old, burnt offerings that are actually real in another world. Interest piqued? Get ready for this absolutely ingenious debut novel!<\/p>\n

And (there’s more!), as an exponentially satisfying bonus, the crisply-voiced author herself\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Yangsze Choo<\/a>, a fourth-generation Malaysian of Chinese descent now California-domiciled \u2013 refreshingly voices the audible incarnation. Yes, without having to grit your way through errant pronunciations, Choo’s rendition is just about music to your ears!<\/p>\n

The concept of ‘hungry ghosts<\/a>‘ is centuries-old in China and other parts of Asia, but Choo goes far beyond lost and desperate spectres to create original, unexpected parallel world she calls “the Plains of the Dead” filled with the uniquely undead. Li Lan, a young woman in 1890s Malaya who is quickly bypassing socially-deemed marriageable age, receives an eerie offer. No longer an illustrious family, Li Lan’s father is financially diminished enough to present the unusual proposition to his daughter: to marry\u00a0Lim Tian Ching, the wealthy heir to a privileged family … never mind that he’s … well … dead. His mother worries that her precious son will be lonely in his afterlife, and requests Li Lan as his bride.<\/p>\n

Just in case Li Lan had other thoughts, Tian Ching quickly begins to lay claim from beyond on his intended. Li Lan, of course, is no obedient wallflower; in fact, her heart flutters for Tian Ching’s cousin,\u00a0Tian Bai, who she initially mistakes as a servant. Her future, alas, is not her own if she can’t get herself unhaunted. Somehow, somewhere, she’ll have to chase down the undead Tian Ching and expose him for the less-than-honorable spirit he is …<\/p>\n

Li Lan’s epic journey toward death in order to live is filled with unexpected meetings, devious servants, a trusty horse that never eats or tires, an\u00a0arrogant yet irresistible\u00a0guardian spirit, and\u00a0plenty of corrupt officials (surprise, surprise \u2013\u00a0even in the netherworld!). Lest you worry about your own soul, Choo inserts a clever nod to tolerance: Keep an eye out for the centuries-old Dutchman who cannot help Li Lan on her deathly quest because “Those are not my beliefs … That is not my afterworld.”<\/p>\n

The lengths a girl has to go through to escape unwanted attention reaches new heights \u2013\u00a0or should I say depths?\u00a0\u2013 in this intriguing, wholly inventive, thoroughly entertaining debut title.<\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hauntings, posthumous marriage proposals, addictions, not-quite-human heroes, in-between spirits growing old, burnt offerings that are actually real in another world. Interest piqued? Get ready for this absolutely ingenious debut novel! And (there’s more!), as an exponentially satisfying bonus, the crisply-voiced author herself\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Yangsze Choo, a fourth-generation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,81,67,6,436,1036,136],"tags":[84,6608,75,10,1035,242,123,13,129,216,39,1037],"class_list":["post-22596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adult-readers","category-audio","category-chinese","category-fiction","category-malaysian","category-malaysian-american","category-southeast-asian","tag-betrayal","tag-bookdragon","tag-death","tag-family","tag-ghost-bride","tag-horror-ghost-story","tag-illness","tag-love","tag-mother-daughter-relationship","tag-mystery","tag-parent-child-relationship","tag-yangsze-choo"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo - BookDragon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/apa.si.edu\/bookdragon\/the-ghost-bride-by-yangsze-choo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo - BookDragon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hauntings, posthumous marriage proposals, addictions, not-quite-human heroes, in-between spirits growing old, burnt offerings that are actually real in another world. 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