The Boat Girl and the Magic Fish is a tender introduction to one of the lifestyles that has long identified Hong Kong as a place unique in the world. Kum-choi, a boat girl who has grown up on a Chinese junk at sea, must join in the progress and go ashore to school. There she experiences the shock of seagoing fisherfolk as they resettle on shore to learn new ways that will forever separate them from the old ways they know and love.The sea gypsies' junks and butterfly-wing sails are disappearing and a time-honored way of life is passing. But Kum-choi has a friend - the Magic Fish - to whom she can beckon for help in her saddest times. With the help of the Magic Fish, Kum-choi heroically uses her knowledge of the sea to save her schoolmates and in so doing rediscovers herself and her heritage. She cannot again give up the sea and elects instead to stand forever at the shoreline - a kind of goddess for the fisherfolk who must come ashore while still looking back for their roots and the gentle sway of a boat in the ocean. In this, The Boat Girl and The Magic Fish is truly a fairy tale of Hong Kong.
Dean Barrett first came to Asia as a Chinese linguist with the American Army Security Agency specializing in Intelligence Operations. He later did graduate work in Asian Studies at San Francisco State College and received his M.A. from the University of Hawaii.
Originally from Groton, Connecticut, Dean was a playwright in New York City for 14 years and a librettist/lyricist at BMI and a member of Dramatist Guild. Almost all of his books - fiction and nonfiction - are set in Asia or have a close connection with China or Thailand.
His detective series set in Bangkok includes Skytrain to Murder and Permanent Damage. His erotic novel set in China - A Love Story: The China Memoirs of Thomas Rowley - is available on Kindle.
His websites are: www.deanbarrettmystery.com and www.deanbarrettthailand.com.
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