Things That Must Not Be Forgotten

Like Angela’s Ashes meets Bhowani Junction meets Empire of the Sun, a never less than engrossing, beautifully written memoir that reads like a novel. Kwan is an awkward, clumsy half-caste boy living in Beijing in the 1930s. Abandoned by his Swiss mother and overwhelmed by his father, Kwan’s life is thrown into turmoil when the Japanese invade. After Japan surrenders to the Allies, the Kuomintang and the Communists start their own battle. Kwan’s father, active in the resistance during the Japanese occupation, is accused of collaboration with the enemy and arrested. He sets out to write down ‘things that must not be forgotton’ - the details of his resistance efforts - to save himself from execution. Kwan is spirited away to Hong Kong and is eventually reunited with his family. A brilliant historical drama about a young boy building a relationship with his aloof father, and reconciling his twin heritages of Europe and China.