Showing results by author "James Wolter" in All Categories

The Life of Lee Lye Hoe is a fictionalized adventure story based on the life of a real person who was the nanny for author’s wife, Fong Moke Chee, when she was a child and their two children. She was born in the paternalistic rural society of Canton China in 1921. At age six her father abandoned her and her mother, leaving them to manage the family farm on their own. At age sixteen her mother died leaving her to manage the farm on her own and to raise two younger orphaned girl cousins.

In 1961, Jim Wolter leaves medical school in Chicago for Malaya thinking he could change the world by teaching biology and avoid his mother's dream of his marrying Lolly. He's excited about his new job as a biology teacher at a secondary school in Malaya. But that excitement is short-lived. After he arrives, his bosses pull a bait-and-switch and put him in teaching jobs he isn't qualified for and create other challenges to fit their own motives. Disappointed and feeling helpless, he decides to return to Chicago and do what is expected of him.