Becky Chan

Jerremie Clyde is a reference librarian at the University of Alberta.

Becky Chan is an inside look at the Hong Kong film industry in the late
1960s, set against the backdrop of the Cultural Revolution on the
mainland. Born into poverty, Becky Chan ends up in an orphanage and is
adopted by a man who runs a third-rate opera troop. When the troop goes
under, she finds work—and increasing fame as an actress—at a small
Hong Kong movie studio. Like her counterparts at the other studios, she
is treated like an indentured servant. No matter how glamorous she may
appear to her fans, her life is in many ways no better than theirs. At
times, she eerily resembles the tragic characters she plays in her
movies.

Written by a journalist who has taught in Hong Kong, this excellent
novel will be of particular interest to aficionados of Hong Kong cinema.