The Kowloon Kid

From the authorof Travels with My Angst andAny Guru Will Do, a vivid, nostalgic, and funny memoir of growing upin Hong Kong in the 1960s.

Phil Brown’s lifebegins in small town Australia – Maitland, NSW to be precise – but in 1963 hisfather Ted hankers to return to the Hong Kong of his childhood and to cash inon a construction boom in the burgeoning colony.

Then under Britishrule, the world of Hong Kong is a truly fascinating place for gweilos or foreigners, both a colonialoutpost and a region redolent with all the exoticism and contradictions of theFar East. The Brown’s home, in the garden suburb of Kowloon Tong, buzzes withcharacters: the family’s amah, Ah Moy, frequent visitors such as theinscrutable Mr Lai, the spy-like Tony Parr, and family members such as UncleCyril. Not to mention the kid from across the road, Michael Hutchence.

Combining recentvisits to Hong Kong, where the author explores his childhood touchstones of theKowloon Cricket Club, the beach at Shek O, the Peninsula Hong Kong and the bustlinglanes of Kowloon, with an affectionate yet truly honest portrait of family,self and the 1960s The Kowloon Kid isan intimate and tender gem.

‘An exquisite loveletter to Hong Kong.’ – RossFitzgerald