The setting is Malaya in 1893, when it was still a British colony settled by various ethnicities over the centuries, among them a considerable Chinese-Malayan population who maintain their own traditions, though not as rigidly as they might on the mainland. The ghost marriage is one of these, though it was apparently never common. I think I had heard of it before (or maybe that was a Tim Burton movie), but didn't really know anything about it. However, the exotic setting, along with the first paragraphs, hooked me immediately:
One evening, my father asked me whether I would like to become a ghost bride. Asked is perhaps not the right word. . . .
My father was smoking opium. It was his first pipe of the evening, so I presumed he was relatively lucid. . . .
Li Lan is an engaging narrator, and as her story progresses from a naturalistic narrative of the social and economic world of Malacca to a perilous quest into the supernatural world of the dead, she finds both love (though this is NOT a "romance novel") and danger, and she discovers things she hadn't known about herself and her own family, as well as about the Lims who want her to marry their dead son. The spirit world mirrors the world of the living in many ways, especially in social hierarchies and bureaucracy, with crime and corruption among both the living and the dead. In each world, Li Lan finds enemies and friends, though it's not always easy at first to tell who is which.
The folklore and mythology that ground the story are fascinating and clearly represented, the mystery and adventure are compelling, and the writing is very, very good. The author's "Notes" at the end are not necessary to the reader's understanding and enjoyment of the story, but they were a welcome bonus. This is Yangsze Choo's first novel, and it is definitely an auspicious debut.
