One Bright Moon

Winner of the 2021 Michael Crouch Award, debut category of the National Biography Award: From famine to freedom, how a young boy fled Chairman Mao’s China to a new life in Australia

Andrew Kwong was only seven when he witnessed his first execution. The grim scene left him sleepless, anxious and doubtful about his commitment as a revolutionary in Mao’s New China. Yet he knew if he devoted himself to the Party and its Chairman he would be saved. That’s what his teacher told him.

Months later, it was his own father on trial. This time the sentence was banishment to a re-education camp, not death. It left the family tainted, despised, and with few means of survival during the terrible years of persecution and famine known as the Great Leap Forward. Even after his father returned, things remained desperate. Escape seemed the only solution, and it would be twelve-year-old Andrew who undertook the perilous journey first.

This is the poignant, resonant story of a young boy’s awakening – to survival, education, fulfilment, and eventually to a new life of freedom.

PRAISE

‘An incredibly powerful book’ Benjamin Law

‘[A] moving family saga, shot through with yearning and hard-won joy’ Fiona Capp, Sydney Morning Herald

‘This book will live on in your heart long after you’ve read the last page’ Vicki Laveau-Harvie, author of The Erratics

‘Heart-breaking, honest, personal, Andrew Kwong’s moving journey from oppression to freedom is inspiring’ Susanne Gervay, OAM, author

‘A work of startling clarity … reminiscent of Angela’s Ashes’ South China Morning Post Magazine

‘Deeply moving … The unique perspective of a child … places One Bright Moon in the vicinity of Night, Elie Wiesel’s pathbreaking memoir of his early life prior to and of his time in German concentration camps’ Meenakshi Bharat, IIC Quarterly

‘A few pages into this compelling memoir proves it was written by a master storyteller’ Sharon Rundle, Australian Book Review

‘A profoundly moving and spellbinding story that perfectly illuminates the terror of the times and the irrepressible yearning for something better’ Carol Major, author and writing mentor

‘One Bright Moon is extraordinary writing that encapsulates long-term hunger as a background feature of daily life in Mao’s New China. In the foreground are images of adults and children populating the world of the pre-teenage boy with a photographic memory who would later write of them. The book is rich archival material for the study of China’s social history’ Mabel Lee, PhD FAHA, writer and translator

‘Reading this memoir is a healing experience’ Devika Brendon, author and editor

Author Biography

Andrew Kwong was born in Zhongshan in the Pearl River Delta, China, and educated in China, Hong Kong and Australia. He works as a family physician on the Central Coast of New South Wales. He has published many short stories and has been the recipient of numerous writing awards and fellowships. His upbringing during the Great Leap Forward was seminal. Those brutal times contrasted with the affection he received from his family and friends, which ultimately shaped his determined and hopeful spirit.