Confused and frightened, she overdoses on a sleeping medication and finds herself trapped between the real world and the spirit world. To make matters worse, she starts to receive visitations from the dead groom while at the same time she meets and finds herself attracted to his handsome cousin. This would allow her a comfortable life as a widow and help her family financially but she is horrified by the prospect. Unfortunately this wealthy family want Li Lan to marry their dead son as a ghost bride. Her prospects for a good marriage are slim but then they receive a proposition from the wealthy Lim family. Li Lan is a young girl whose father has fallen into debt and who spends most of his time under the spell of opium. The Chinese immigrants of Malaya were mostly part of the business upper class and although they worked toward western material success, they maintained strong ties to their ancestral clans and traditions.The book takes place in 1893 and is set in Malacca. The purpose of these marriages were to placate a restless spirit. In The Ghost Bride, author Yangsze Choo explores the “spirit marriage” custom among Chinese immigrants in Malaya.
Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secrets-and the truth about her own family-before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits, and monstrous bureaucracy-including the mysterious Er Lang, a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days, but at a terrible price.Īfter an ominous visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lims' handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Rarely practiced, traditional ghost marriages are used to placate restless spirits. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca, ghosts and superstitions abound. Though ruled by British overlords, the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. One evening, my father asked me whether I would like to become a ghost bride.
A startlingly original voice makes her literary debut with this wondrous coming-of-age story infused with Chinese folklore, romantic intrigue, adventure, and fascinating, dreamlike twists
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