The Ghost Bride – Yangsze Choo

The Ghost Bride – Yangsze Choo

Li Lan must marry a ghost. This is the central premise of The Ghost Bride, a paranormal work, based in the Malacca of the 1890s. Li Lan comes from a family that has fallen on hard times with a mother who died mysteriously and a father who has descended into opium addiction. As part of that addiction, he’s racked up quite a few debts and the family who holds the debts, the Lim family, now wants Li Lan to marry their deceased son Lim Tian Ching. Though she refuses the offer, Li Lan is haunted by Lim and eventually pulled into the spirit world. Her only ticket out is to find out why Lim wants to marry her.

The novel provides a fascinating insight not only into the Malacca of the late 19^th century, its people and its ways, but also into the superstitions and traditions of that time. The belief of what the afterlife is about differs remarkably from Western tradition and is an almost amusing world of bureaucracy, bribery, danger – of course – and politics, the currency being the offerings made to the dead. A colourful read, the book is at times slow but does not fail to interest and impress.

Zhào Lè Lè