In 1969, at the height of Chinaโs Cultural Revolution, a yacht sails out of Hong Kong and disappears. The worldโs press takes up the story of the crew who are presumed lost at sea. But Gill and her friends are very much alive, held captive in a Chinese fishing village by Communist militia. As she faces questioning by the Peopleโs Liberation Army, thereโs a lot that Gill would rather not tell โ that her crew-mates are British soldiers; her flatmates are Japanese, old adversaries of the Chinese; or that her boss, the doyen of advertising in Hong Kong, is well known for โfiring Redsโ.
In this spirited memoir, where Mad Men meets Han Suyinโs A Many Splendoured Thing, Gill recreates a Hong Kong of the imagination. Twenty-one, attractive and naรฏve, wined and dined by Hong Kongโs elite, Gill learns to stand her ground at her job in an advertising agency under the directive of the narcissistic Mrs Church. Her luck changes when Paddy OโNeil-Dunne joins the firm โ he is just as eccentric but much more fun. After several visits to a casino in the nearby Portuguese enclave of Macau, Paddy embarks on the longest roulette game ever played and he insists Gill join in. But Gill finds the sparkling waters of Hong Kongโs seascape more seductive than the world of business and money; she takes up sailing and falls in love.
The backdrop is a gift. The Colony is an anachronism, a last vestige of British colonialism. Yet as Communist ideology gathers pace in neighbouring China, Hong Kong seizes every new opportunity and so does the author. Unexpected twists and a host of funny, bizarre and whimsical events are captured in her lyrical memoir.
Carefully bundled and tied together with ribbon, Gillโs letters from Hong Kong had remained untouched for nearly fifty years. When she untied them, she remembered her fatherโs words: โI think thereโs a book in there.โ
