Florey's Books welcomes local publisher Lian Gouw as she presents the new historical novel "Potions and Paper Cranes" by acclaimed Indonesian novelist Lan Fang.
***Saturday, February 8th, 2-4pm***
About the book:
Sulis is a young woman who sells potions in Surabaya’s harbor district. In her basket she carries sweet rice and ginger potion, betel leaf potion, and tamarind leaf refreshing potion. Her tonics remedy everything from obesity to weakening virility. The route is long and the days are hot. She meets Sujono, a coolie with dreams of becoming a freedom fighter. They marry and have a son, Joko, that Sujono believes is from Sulis being with another man. Behind the walls of their squalid tenement they fight their own war, while on the streets World War II comes to an end and the Indonesian Revolution is on the rise.
Matsumi, a poor girl growing up in a fishing village in Japan, always wanted to be a geisha. Her beauty and grace help Matsumi realize her goal and soon she is called to Java by a Japanese general to provide him with pleasure while waging war. She works at a club on Kembang Jepun until Sujono sees her. He is immediately taken by her exotic loveliness. They, too, have a child, and are torn apart by desire and jealousy while Indonesia struggles for its first breaths as a new nation.
About the event:
Lian Gouw, the publisher and president of Dalang Publishing will introduce Indonesian literature in translation
to English-speaking audiences. For more information on Ms. Gouw and Dalang Publishing, please see her site:
http://dalangpublishing.com/potions-and-paper-cranes
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We hope to see you!
***Saturday, February 8th, 2-4pm***
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Florey's Book Co.
2120 Palmetto Ave.
Pacifica, CA 94044
(650) 355-8811
Open 10am to 6pm every day, to 8pm Fridays
http://www.floreysbooks.blogspot.com
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