Summary
This story does not begin on a boat. Nor does it contain any wild swans or falling leaves.
In a wonderland called Footscray, a girl named Alice and her Chinese-Cambodian family pursue the Australian Dream - Asian style. Armed with an ocker accent, Alice dives head-first into schooling, romance and the getting of wisdom. Her mother becomes an Aussie battler - an outworker, that is. Her father embraces the miracle of franchising and opens an electrical-appliance store. And every day her grandmother blesses Father Government for giving old people money.
Unpolished Gem is a book rich in comedy, a loving and irreverent portrait of a family, its everyday struggles and bittersweet triumphs. With it, Australian writing gains an unforgettable new voice.
'This is a sophisticated and fiercely intelligent book.' Helen Garner
'A memoir so vivid that images from it linger behind your eyelids.' The Age
'Unpolished Gem is virtuoso storytelling.' The Australian
Alice Pung was born in 1981 in Footscray, Australia. She has attended the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. Her first book, Unpolished Gem, won the 2007 Newcomer of the Year Award in the Australian Book Industry Awards. She is the editor of Growing up Asian in Australia (2008). Her other books include Her Father's Daughter and Laurinda, which is being adapted into a film. She is also a solicitor and an art instructor.
(Bowker Author Biography)
