I was born and bred in Australia into a typical white Anglo-Saxon family. Even though I know in my head what the immigrant experience involves, it is books like Tiger Daughter that are vital to helping young readers feel what it must be like – the cultural differences, the racism, the ostracism.

Author Rebecca Lim is a highly qualified, well-educated lawyer whose family arrived here in the 70s. She still suffers racial abuse and was determined to put down in writing the experiences of children caught between the norms of the old country and the life here in the new.

Wen and her friend Henry have come with their parents from China. Wen’s father was a doctor but was not successful in passing the exams here and works at a restaurant. His frustration and rage are taken out on his wife and daughter with his controlling insistence that they behave as they would have in China. Henry’s mother, meanwhile, is seriously depressed and when tragedy strikes, he and his father cannot cope. When Wen and her mother dare to defy her father by helping Henry and his dad, they begin to see a different future – helped by a supportive, encouraging teacher and the local pharmacist.

This is a well-written narrative which engages the reader and sympathetically portrays both parents and children caught between two worlds. While the reader is not told how the situations are resolved, there is hope at the end of this book.

Reviewed by Lynne Babbage
Age Guide 10+