“‘The Ghost Bride’, an impressive first novel, takes readers on one of the wildest rides since Alice fell down the rabbit hole.” San Jose Mercury News “…from whodunit to ghost story to coming-of-age to romance, there is enough plot to fill several more novels. But the beguiling tale of Li Lan navigating both the land of the dead and the territory of her own heart makes you hope Choo is the author who writes all of them.” What makes all this work is the sumptuous world of Chinese émigré culture and the love story that flows under it all-the kind so full of longing, the pages practically sigh as you turn each one.” ’s Book of the Week “The Ghost Bride begins as a historical novel but takes an unexpected turn into a fantastical, ghost-and-murder mystery. “Choo’s clear and charming style creates an alternate reality where the stakes are just as high as in the real world, combining grounded period storytelling with the supernatural.”

Li Lan must uncover the Lim family’s darkest secrets, before she is trapped in this ghostly world forever. Night after night, she is drawn into the shadowy parallel world of the Chinese afterlife, with its ghost cities, paper funeral offerings, vengeful spirits and monstrous bureaucracy. The only problem is, he’s dead.Īfter a fateful visit to the opulent Lim mansion, Li Lan finds herself haunted not only by her ghostly would-be suitor, but also by her desire for the Lim’s handsome new heir, Tian Bai. Li Lan, a young Chinese woman, lives in 1890s colonial Malaya with her quietly ruined father, who returns one evening with a proposition - the fabulously wealthy Lim family want Li Lan to marry their son.

The ghost bride by yangsze choo