While I haven't been here

I have been here,

Spilling the Beans was a wonderful read; I knew it would be. I was devoted to the Two Fat Ladies and I simply adore women like Clarissa Dickson Wright; they are bright, forthright, and thoroughly disarming. Always of a certain age and background - women like her are the antithesis to the useless modern size zero clacker.

and here,

As Amy Tan is not as nearly as prolific as I would like her to be, I am in constant search for books that tell the tale of Chinese immigrant life. I approached Sweet Mandarin with some trepidation because I was not sure how the British aspect would colour the story. The trepidation was unwarranted; the story of the three generations of family is beautifully told and proof that the story is indeed universal.
My friend Patty, who also happens to be Eurasian but from Hawaii, always said how different our lives would have been had our respective families been in the restaurant business. Sweet Mandarin is proof, for me at least, that the differences would have only been superficial.



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