Review by Alice Penfold

“I had a feeling that something terrible was going to happen…” 

Liur is dominated by the fear of “something terrible” happening to her or her father. After her mother dies suddenly, her father disappears to America; although he originally goes there to study, he soon abandons this plan and goes travelling, where he meets an old man called Uchu. Uchu is a ventriloquist, and he teaches her father how to be a ventriloquist too. By the time her Baba returns to the family home, years after he first embarked on his trip, things are not the same between him and Liur. Not only have they both changed as people, but he has also not returned alone. He has come back with a mysterious doll, Carola. 

Liur had been hoping her father would bring her back a doll as a present. But Carola is not an ordinary doll, and she taunts Liur with her presence. Nobody believes Liur when she tells them the things that Carola says and does, and she feels more and more isolated from her family. Liur must take on the doll in order to get her Baba back – but the doll has no intention of going anywhere. 

The Ventriloquist’s Daughter (2013), written by Lin Man-Chiu and translated by Helen Wang (2017), uses the fantasy genre to explore challenging themes and deep emotions: grief, guilt, growing up, family relationships, and the tension between fulfilling personal ambitions and others’ expectations. The novel is rich with symbolism (the stormy weather and repeated references to ghosts stand out in particular) and also with stories. One such example is the folklore behind the existence of dolls like Carola: child sacrifice, Liur reads in an article, “was part of the important religious rituals of the Inca Empire” (128), and the child-souls slipped into the cloth-dolls. Throughout the narration, it remains ambiguous as to whether Carola really does have the magical powers that Liur believes, or if Liur is projecting her own feelings of vulnerability, particularly her anxiety that her connection with her Baba is lost forever. 

The novel does at times ‘tell’ more than it ‘shows’ (“We had both been in pain, but had not thought to seek help” (188) the narrator states in the Afterword, a sentiment that readers had already been shown through their distressed words and actions – such examples can detract from the novel’s metaphorical magic). Nevertheless, the author makes good use of the subversive possibilities of fantasy to demonstrate the importance of talking through feelings and traumatic experiences with loved ones– but also of listening, particularly in the case of adults listening to children.  

The Ventriloquist’s Daughter
Written by Lin Man-Chiu, translated by Helen Wang
2017, Balestier Press
The novel was long-listed for the 2014 ‘Found in Translation Award’ and later selected for the Found in Translation Anthology.
Reviews: The Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing

Alice is a PhD student at Goldsmiths, University of London, having previously completed her MA in Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths and her BA in English Language and Literature at Oxford University. Her research focuses on representations of language, gender, emotions, and identity in contemporary young adult (YA) fantasy fiction. Alice is a former English teacher, Pedagogy Lead and Reading Lead, and currently works as an English Curriculum Lead for an Academy Trust and as an English advisor. Alice is also an Associate Lecturer in the Educational Studies department at Goldsmiths, supporting trainee teachers, and has contributed to teaching and marking on the Children’s Literature MA programme. 

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GLLI’s 2024 International YA Literature Month has been curated by Dr Emily Corbett. She is a lecturer in children’s and young adult literature at Goldsmiths, University of London, where she leads the MA Children’s Literature: Theoretical Approaches to Children’s and Young Adult Literature programme. Her research focuses on the growth and development of YA from literary, publishing, and cultural perspectives. She is also General Editor of The International Journal of Young Adult Literature and was founding Vice President of the YA Studies Association. Her monograph, In Transition: Young Adult Literature and Transgender Representation (2024), is forthcoming with the University Press of Mississippi in June. You can find her contact details on her institutional website and connect with her on Twitter and Instagram via @DrEmilyCorbett.

Opinions expressed in posts on this site are the individual author’s and are not indicative of the views of Global Literature in Libraries Initiative.