Unpolished Gem - Softcover

Pung, Alice

Softcover

ISBN 10: 186395158X ISBN 13: 9781863951586

Publisher: Black Inc., 2018

Synopsis

After Alice Pung's family fled to Australia from the killing fields of Cambodia, her father chose Alice as her name because he thought their new country was a Wonderland. In this lyrical, bittersweet debut memoir?already an award-winning bestseller when it was published in Australia?Alice grows up straddling two worlds, East and West, her insular family and the Australia outside. With wisdom beyond her years and a keen eye for comedy in everyday life, she writes of the trials of assimilation and cultural misunderstanding, and of the tender but fraught relationships between three generations of women trying to live the Australian dream without losing themselves. "Unpolished Gem" is a moving, vivid journey about identity and the ultimate search for acceptance and healing, delivered by a writer possessed of rare empathy, penetrating insight, and undeniable narrative gifts.

About this title

About the Author:

Alice Pung is a writer, editor, teacher and lawyer based in Melbourne. Born a month after her Chinese parents fled from Cambodia to Australia as asylum seekers from Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge Regime, Alice has used her shared family's experiences to write stories that captivate all readers. She has won numerous awards including the 2007 Newcomer of the Year Award in the Australia Book Industry Awards for her first book Unpolished Gem. Her next book Her Father's Daughter won the Western Australia Premier's Book Award for Non Fiction, and it was also shortlisted for the Premier's Literary Awards in Victoria and New South Wales, and nominated also in the Queensland Literary Awards. Laurinda, Alice's first novel, was published in 2014 and was one of Readings' Top 100 bestselling books for the year. She is writing four books around the character Marly for Penguin's Our Australian Girl series. Alice's writing has appeared in many notable publications including the Monthly, the Age, Meanjin, Best Australian Stories and Best Australian Essays. Alice edited Growing Up Asian in Australia, a collection of personal accounts, essays, short stories and poetry which is currently a set text for the VCE English context on Identity and Belonging. Alice lives with her husband at Janet Clarke Hall

Review:

aAlice Pung is a gem. Her voice is the real thing.a a
Amy Tan
aThis is a sophisticated and fiercely intelligent booka] Thereas something striking on every page.a
aHelen Garner, author of "Postcards from Surfers"

?Alice Pung is a gem. Her voice is the real thing.? ?
Amy Tan

?This is a sophisticated and fiercely intelligent book? There's something striking on every page.?
?Helen Garner, author of "Postcards from Surfers"

About this edition

• Publisher: Black Inc.
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 186395158X
• ISBN 13: 9781863951586
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 290