num_pages: 368
description: 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.'One evening my father asked me whether I would like to become a ghost bride...'Though ruled by British overlords the Chinese of colonial Malaya still cling to ancient customs. And in the sleepy port town of Malacca ghosts and superstitions abound.Li Lan the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family's only son who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced traditional ghost marriages are used to placate restless spirits. Such a union would guarantee Li Lan a home for the rest of her days but at a terrible price.After 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. 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 bureaucracyincluding the mysterious Er Lang a charming but unpredictable guardian spirit. Li Lan must uncover the Lim family's darkest secretsand the truth about her own familybefore she is trapped in this ghostly world forever.
language: English
title: The Ghost Bride
publisher: William Morrow