Dimensions
154 x 214 x 25mm
At the time of Burma's military coup in 1962, Wendy Law-yone was 15. The daughter of Ed Law-yone, daredevil proprietor of The Nation newspaper, she'd had a childhood filled with the delights and dangers of life at the centre of new independent and politically unstable Burma. She'd always imagined she would study abroad. Now, with her father in prison, leaving the country became both more desirable and more difficult. After a failed attempt, when she was caught and imprisoned, she finally escaped. Meanwhile her father spent 5 years in jail before trying, unsuccessfully, to help form a government in exile in Thailand. Ed later emigrated to America where, despite his unquenchable exuberance, he died a disappointed man.
The Tiger's Footprints is Wendy Law-yone's poignant memoir of Burma, her father and his newspaper. Shortly before his death, Ed gave his daughter the manuscript of his autobiography. 'You're a writer, you sort it out,' was the gist of his instruction. It was a troubling bequest. How to do justice to a remarkable character whose eventful life had spanned Burma under the British, occupation by the Japanese and the political ferment of the post-war years? Her grandmother had predicted she would follow in her father's 'footprints'. For a young woman wanting to look forward rather than back, it wasn't an appealing path. But as age brought greater clarity, she found the confidence to return to her father's manuscript, and to Burma. The result is a unique book that blends history and reminiscence, politics and daily life to tell the compelling story of post-war Burma, and of an extraordinary man whose family and newspaper give us an intimate portrait of that troubled nation.
