The Curses of Third Uncle

Al Stray is manager of the Port Credit Public Library.

Paul Yee lives and works in Vancouver. Like his 1983 stories for pre-teens, Teach Me to Fly Skyfighter ... much of this story takes place in Vancouver’s Chinatown. The year is 1909 and intrigue is sweeping through the Chinese community. Snippets of conversation heard in Stanley Park on a warm July afternoon set the stage for the mystery that follows.

Fourteen-year-old Lillian (Ah-Lai), the spunky protagonist, takes charge when her father’s disappearance threatens the family’s survival. Five months pass without any letters or money from Jin (the father). His younger brother, the third uncle, threatens to send her pregnant mother and children to China to face an uncertain fate.

A hidden letter post-marked Revelstoke provides Lillian with a clue to her father’s whereabouts. With the family business in a shambles, Lillian sacrifices her education to take a servant job and then, defying her mother’s wishes even further, acts as a companion and interpreter for a young widowed mother travelling to Revelstoke.

As the mystery unravels, the reader is given a subtle history lesson. We see that what happens thousands of miles away can have deadly consequences for immigrant Canadians. The hold of the motherland is strong. Then, as today, the children of immigrant parents are torn between two cultures. Making matters worse was open and accepted prejudice.

Fast paced and easy reading, Yee has combined mystery and history to create an entertaining and, I dare say, enlightening novel for pre- and early teens.