Today we’re twirling with Jean Kwok, the Netherlands-based author of Mambo In Chinatown, which I paired with “fake-out” chow mein earlier this week. The novel is Jean’s second, and features a good dose of inspiration from her own life. Like her protagonist, Charlie, Jean too labored in Chinatown before working as a professional dancer for some time. Here’s how Jean sums up Mambo In Chinatown‘s plot, in her own words:
“At the beginning of the book, Charlie is a dishwasher in a noodle restaurant. She gets the chance to be the receptionist at a ballroom dance studio and gains access to a whole new and glamorous world as she discovers her own hidden dance talent. However, as Charlie blossoms, her little sister becomes ill and when their father insists on treating her sister exclusively with Eastern medicine, Charlie is forced to try to reconcile her two selves and her two worlds to rescue her little sister and herself. ”
Amina Elahi 