Review:
The Secret life of Maeve Lee Kwong by Kirsty Murray
Allen & Unwin, 2006 ISBN: 1865087378
Fans of the Children of the Wind
books will love this, the 4th book in the series. Set in present day
Sydney, Kirsty Murray tells the story of 14 year old Maeve Lee Kwong
who is the daughter of a Chinese Australian and an Irish father she has
never seen. When her mother is killed in a car accident, Maeve
is forced to leave her little half brother and live with her strict,
elderly Chinese grandparents on the Gold Coast. With the help of Colm
McCabe, (hero of Becoming Billy Dare), now a middle aged and
sympathetic teacher, Maeve persuades her grandparents to let her become
a boarder in her old school in Sydney.
The over riding theme of this book is family. Through Maeve’s
experiences, Kirsty Murray explores the notion of what is “a proper
family” in today’s society. She examines the single parent family,
children from mixed cultures, having a stepbrother and sister, living
with grandparents and a father who lives in a truck a few hundred
metres from his house. She also looks at the importance of blood ties
and how love can endure even though family members have been separated
for many years.
The exuberant cover gives readers a clue to the role that dance plays
in the Maeve’s life. Her love of dancing and her good friends help her
to adjust to life without her mother. Murray portrays the joys of a
school production and travelling overseas on a school trip.
This is a satisfying read with well-rounded characters and sensitive
descriptions of teenage life, and would be very useful in a study of
family, friendship and multicultural society.
Pat Pledger
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Consulting, 2007