KwayFay was once a "Cockroach Child, a homeless scavenger on Hong Kong's waterfront. Now she lives in a squatter shack on the mountain slopes, and commutes daily to her job as a lowly office clerk. She survives by paying bribes if she has to, and keeping silent when abused. Her only ally is Grandmother's Ghost.
There is a tense, pregnant feel to Hong Kong, for this is the time just before the Handover, when the People's Republic of China will repossess the Crown Colony. Hongs and triads -- underworld organizations that are above the law -- are concerned, since China's policy is to eliminate criminal cliques.
The head of a triad learns of the impoverished "no-family" girl who talks to ghosts, and wonders if she could hold the answer to the questions of an uncertain future. Except that superstition is also forbidden by the incoming regime: the girl might be the last chance for his Triad's survival -- but believing in her might prove to be its destruction.
There is a tense, pregnant feel to Hong Kong, for this is the time just before the Handover, when the People's Republic of China will repossess the Crown Colony. Hongs and triads -- underworld organizations that are above the law -- are concerned, since China's policy is to eliminate criminal cliques.
The head of a triad learns of the impoverished "no-family" girl who talks to ghosts, and wonders if she could hold the answer to the questions of an uncertain future. Except that superstition is also forbidden by the incoming regime: the girl might be the last chance for his Triad's survival -- but believing in her might prove to be its destruction.
