My Books
A Cowherd in Paradise: From China to Canada (Brindle & Glass, 2012)
This book is the moving tale of one couple’s search for a home, family, and forgiveness.
It chronicles the remarkable lives of Wong Guey Dang (1902–1983) and Jiang Tew Thloo (1911–2002). Ah Dang was born into an impoverished family and sold as a child. His adoptive father enabled Ah Dang to create a new life in Canada, by paying the exorbitant five-hundred-dollar head tax demanded by Canada’s discriminatory laws.
From the age of six, Ah Thloo was responsible for her taking care of her family’s fortune—their water buffalo. She not only became a wife and mother, but also grew to be a courageous defender against invaders, a feminist, and a champion of the weak.
Married for over half a century, the couple was forced to live apart for twenty-five years because of Canada’s Chinese Exclusion Act (1923). In China, Ah Thloo struggled to survive through natural disasters, wars, and revolutions; in Canada, Ah Dang overcame discrimination to become a successful Montreal restaurateur.
City in Colour: Rediscovered Stories of Victoria’s Multicultural Past (TouchWood Editions, 2018)
This book focuses on the little-known pioneers of diverse ethnic origins who contributed to the development of the Colony of Vancouver Island and later the city of Victoria.
Readers will learn about:
- Three Metis matriarchs whose cultural knowledge and skills were integral to the survival and success of their British spouses in the earliest days of the colony.
- One of the largest populations of Hawaiians outside of the Hawaiians islands.
- Canada’s oldest surviving synagogue, the colony’s first licenced businesswoman, and Canada’s first Jewish judge.
- American Blacks who were the largest non-British immigrants, arriving during the Gold Rush, escaping slavery. They formed the colony’s first militia, and a famous Black artist held his first exhibition in Victoria
- Canada’s oldest Chinatown, British Columbia’s first Chinese bank manager, and Canada’s first Chinese female doctor, who all lived in Victoria.
- Victoria’s first authentic Japanese garden that was a longstanding Victoria attraction and the family that cared for it.
- And many more fascinating stories.