MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR, HELEN TSE
As you are watching my video, I know you are travelling on your journey to wherever you are going. We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere. My name is Helen Tse, the author of the internationally selling book Sweet Mandarin. Through this video, I want to share with you snippets of my journey during this worldwide book tour in the UK, Hong Kong, China, Caribbean Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, the beautiful Philippines and the USA. This song is dedicated to all my family (especially my grandma Lily Kwok), my dear friends and loved ones. Many people will walk in and out of our life, but only true friends will leave footprints in one's heart. I'm here without you but you will always be in my prayers.
You can see snapshots of the book in the video and the Chinese proverb on the front cover says " A Journey of a Thousand Miles Takes One Step". Every day for me is a step, a new beginning, a new adventure.
Much love
Helenx
SWEET MANDARIN: THE STORY BEGINS
Spanning almost a hundred years, this rich and evocative true story of Sweet Mandarin recounts the lives of three generations of remarkable Chinese women. Their extraordinary journey takes us from the brutal poverty of village life in mainland China, to newly prosperous 1930s Hong Kong and finally to the UK.
Their lives were as dramatic as the times they lived through. A love of food and a talent for cooking pulled each generation through the most devastating of upheavals. Helen Tse's grandmother, Lily Kwok, was forced to work as an amah after the violent murder of her father. Crossing the ocean from Hong Kong in the 1950s, Lily honed her famous chicken curry recipe.
Eventually she opened one of Manchester's earliest Chinese restaurants where her daughter, Mabel, worked from the tender age of nine. But gambling and the Triads were pervasive in the Chinese immigrant community, and they tragically lost the restaurant.
It was up to Helen and her two sisters, Lisa and Janet, the third generation of these exceptional women, to re-establish their grandmother's dream. "Sweet Mandarin" shows how the most important inheritance is wisdom, and how recipes - passed down the female line - can be the most valuable heirloom.
Sweet Mandarin is published by Ebury Random House in UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Asia. Sweet Mandarin is published by Thomas Dunne in the United States of America. The audio book is published worldwide by BBC Books. The name of the book originates from Helen, Lisa and Janet's award winning restaurant, Sweet Mandarin in the UK. You can see the restaurant details online at w.sweetmandarin.com
Thank you for joining me on my book tour. If you want to find out more about our family and would like to buy the book click onto:
w.amazon.com
w.amazon.co.uk
w.sweetmandarin.com
Or it will be stocked by all good bookshops and Harvey Nichols luxury department stores.
It will be a journey you will never forget.
REVIEWS
Xinran, author of The Good Women of China
"Read this book. It is the story of an amazing family - three
generations of Chinese women and their sweet and sour, hot and bitter
lives"
Ken Hom
"a griping tale of struggle, laughter, love and food.a must read
book."
Woman
"an amazing and charming read"
Wall Street Journal
"a heartrending and tender story of three generations of Chinese
women who transform their lives"
First Magazine
"The hiss of the wok and scent of stir-fried vegetables
practically leap out.an excellent read"
Metro
"fascinating stuff"