Expansive yet tightly plotted, When Sleeping Women Wake is a deeply empathetic novel that examines the devastation of war. Set in 1940s Hong Kong, it traces the city’s transformation from a British colony to a Japanese-occupied territory during World War II.
The story is told through three alternating perspectives: Mingzhu, a high-born first wife; her daughter, Qiang; and her long-time handmaid/servant, Biyu. As the Japanese invasion upends their lives, their once-intertwined worlds are pulled apart by the shifting demands of survival, loyalty, love and resistance.
The novel foregrounds stories often missing from mainstream historical accounts: mixed-race soldiers, romances across allied lines, a neglected first wife, double agents, and a staunch civilian rebellion force. These experiences unfold through the women’s perspectives at different stages and stations in life and are portrayed without stripping them of agency. Instead, they remind the reader of how, even during war – or perhaps especially then – oppressive systems disproportionately impact the most disenfranchised.
Written in atmospheric prose and propelled by an urgent narrative pulse, When Sleeping Women Wake is an immersive and compelling read that will be loved by readers of Janice YK Lee’s The Piano Teacher, Juhea Kim’s Beasts of a Little Land and Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s works. When Sleeping Women Wake is a quietly self-assured debut by Hong Kong Chinese-Australian writer Emma Pei Yin and a welcome addition to the global canon of Asian historical fiction.
