Unquiet Spirits by Edited by Lee Murray and Angela Yuriko Smith (Black Spot Books)

Ever since I was little, I loved reading Asian fairy tales and stories, because they sounded more serious, wiser, and scarier than other recommended stories for children.

For Asian families, it’s important to maintain regular contact with the dead, to ensure they are nourished and entertained—to placate them. In Chinese culture, people become hungry ghosts because of evil deeds carried out in the course of their lifetime.

It is very interesting, that the realm of ghosts is full of greedy women who want more than their due.

The book Unquiet Spirits presents several stories written from the female point of view, mainly from the point of view of people who are permanently displaced or born outside their native land and therefore not only physically separated from their ancestral roots and traditions but also spiritually. Hence the fear that after death they can become hungry ghosts or apparitions. 

This unique collection of essays explores themes of identity, expectation, duty, and loss. 

Empowering and emotional read about woman's role in folklore, which still affects lives in the Asian diaspora today.

4/5