I have lived in Canada and the United States ever since I left my native Hong Kong as a university student 40 years ago. Even though I am totally at home on North American soil, I have always reserved a special place in my heart for Hong Kong, my birthplace, where I spent my childhood and formative years, formed lasting friendships, cultivated dreams, built lifetime goals, met my husband. The seed of my passion to write was sown while I was growing up in Hong Kong. And always, I am aware and proud of my Chinese heritage. Some of the people very dear to me had lived in Hong Kong, and died there. It was therefore not a random choice that I picked Hong Kong and China as settings for my first novel, Hui Gui: a Chinese story. I wrote Hui Gui to celebrate the resilient and hardworking Chinese people, especially the Hong Kong people. I wrote it for my children who were American-born, that they might know their roots. And I brought it home to Hong Kong, through Chamelion Press and www.paddyfield.com, as well as select bookstores there. In a sense, it was my way of giving a little back to the land of my birth. It was also my own personal hui gui.
My second novel, The Heart of the Buddha, is mainly set in Bhutan, with a small part in Tibet. I was fascinated and smitten by the little Himalayan kingdom on my first visit there in 2000. I was attracted not only by its pristine natural environment, out-of-this-world scenery, and unique architecture, but also by the unsophisticated, unpretentious, friendly Bhutanese people, their devotions and priorities, their simple pleasures, and their placement of happiness over affluence. My blog entry “Happiness in Bhutan” on www.elsiesze.com explains the Bhutanese sense of value and way of life in greater detail. Perhaps this novel was also in part the result of my Asian connection, a natural interest in the land, be it historical, political, religious, cultural, or ideological, even though I came from a tiny island that is, on the map of Asia, almost an invisible presence in this huge continent. I have always been motivated to educate myself in those Asian cultures with which I am not familiar. The Heart of the Buddha took nine years in the making, from conception to publication. It is as cherished a work as Hui Gui. It will also be available in Asia through Chameleon Press and www.paddyfield.com.
And novel 3? I have started research. Another plan, another dream, another Asian land, one to which some of my ancestors had migrated from China a long time ago….
My warmest wishes,
Elsie