Author(s): Alison Wong

Aust Fiction

It is 1905 and brothers Yung and Shun eke out a living as greengrocers in Wellington's bustling Chinatown. Recently-arrived immigrants, the pair must support their families back home in China, but know they must adapt if they are to survive and prosper in their adopted home. On the other side of town, Katherine McKechnie struggles to raise her rebellious son and daughter following the death of her husband, Donald. A strident right-wing newspaperman, Donald terrorised his family, though was idolised by his teenage son. On her way home from work one day, Katherine chances upon Yung's grocery store and is touched by the Chinaman's unexpected generosity. Soon a clandestine relationship develops between the immigrant and the widow, a relationship Katherine's son Robbie cannot abide - On the eve of World War I, as young men are swept up on a tide of macho patriotism, Robbie takes his family's honour into his own hands. In doing so, he places his mother at the heart of a tragedy that will affect everyone and everything she holds dear.