With a wide spectrum of issues I feel the real subject here is 'Where are my roots?'. In this very easy to read story I learned about cooking, about London’s Chinatown and about life in Hong Kong after the Handover. About parenthood and family relations; secrets, truth and ambition and moments in time that will change lives, on a smaller or larger scale. But only the way we care about each other will make life worth living.
'I’ve never felt I belong here. I was in London for twenty years and thought Britain was home, until I moved to Shanghai and realised how un-Chinese and un-British I am.' Amber took a deep breath. 'Unlike Dad, I don’t think a sense of belonging matters to me. What I need most in my life is the routine in the kitchen, the monotony of chopping onions, degutting fish and steaming rice. I suppose when I say the kitchen is my home, what I mean is that without the confines of its four walls, I’m a nobody who belongs nowhere.'
'Sometimes I think you’re Dad’s carbon copy.' Bobby said. 'But deep down you have more of Mum’s DNA. You and Mum are always hungry for change, but me and Dad just want everything to stay the same.'
