WHITE GHOST GIRLS

An auspicious debut sensitively and impressionistically evokes adolescent turmoil in Vietnam War–era Hong Kong.

Short, overlapping chapters give voice to Kate, the younger and more fearful of two sisters whose father, a photographer for Time magazine, is on assignment in Vietnam. His regular trips back to the family in Hong Kong cause a rivalry to develop among the girls and their mother for his attention. While he’s away, Kate and Frankie run wild, exploring, swimming and absorbing the local culture under the cool gaze of their amah, a combination of nanny and housekeeper. Ah Bing, a tough survivor of communist China, calls her charges gwaimui—white ghost girls—with affectionate mockery. One day they are caught up in a pro–Red Guard demonstration, and Frankie is kidnapped; her captors force Kate to carry a bag they claim is “full of lychees” to a nearby police boat. It contains a bomb that kills a woman and burns a child. Kate’s complicated emotions involving her family are additionally burdened by these events, which blossom in her imagination. She feels guilty about a possible sexual assault on Frankie and complicit in something akin to the guerilla missions of the Viet Cong. The story harbors multiple layers of violence and fatalism. An early vision of a bloated body surfacing in Hong Kong waters suggests the encroaching menace of the communists. Kate’s father is in constant peril as he works, photographing horrors in a country he loves. Eventually, danger bursts into the foreground as Frankie’s behavior grows ever wilder. Her intensity has already become too much for Kate, whose need to break free is fulfilled at a price that will haunt her memories. Greenway vividly conjures up the fears, passions and fantasies of a teenager against a heart-rending political background.

Assured, sensuous and brilliantly colored.