Geschichte eines während der japanischen Besetzung Singapurs zur Prostitution gezwungenen Mädchens.
Lee erzählt die Geschichte eines Mädchen, das 1942 während der japanischen Besetzung Singapurs in die Prostitution gezwungen wird. Die „comfort women” gab es nicht nur dort, sondern überall in den japanischen Kolonien Asiens – bis heute erkennt Japan diese Menschenrechtsverletzungen nicht an.
Die Hauptfigur Wang Di überlebt zwar irgendwie die sexuelle Gewalt im Bordell. Nach der Befreiung wird sie jedoch sowohl von ihrer Umgebung, selbst ihrer Familie, geächtet und mit einem älteren Witwer verheiratet.
Verwoben ist die Geschichte Wang Dis mit der des zwölfjährigen Kevin, der von seiner sterbenden Großmutter ein Geheimnis erfährt, was ihn auf die Spur von Wang Di setzt.
I would have asked what happened if I could. But the answer was clear to me: that I was as unworthy as my parents had always suggested. That I would have been better born as a boy. Everything that I had done up until my capture helping around the house, working at the market, was all to do with righting the wrong of my birth. Now that I was here, wasn’t even nothing. Less than. It didn’t matter what Takeo thought of me - he was I what I deserved. Someone like that. After Takeo, the men became faceless again with a few rare exceptions: one soldier seemed to me only a boy. No older than fifteen. He had said nothing as he came into my room and I heard the familiar jangle of belt being unbuckled, then silence. lifted my head, looked. He was kneeling. I saw his face for just a moment - a child’s face, with milk fat still on his cheeks - before he put his head in his hands and wept. He stayed kneeling as he tried to compose himself. It took him fifteen minutes. A few more and the next soldier in line would start hammering on the door. I wanted to give him a handkerchief except l didn’t have one, could only sit up as he bowed again and again, whispering something that sounded apologetic. When he recovered, he dried his face on his sleeves, stood, buckled his belt and left, shutting the door quietly behind him. His ticket lay on the floor where he’d knelt. I picked it up and put it away with the rest.