Mai Leung Thayer

Grasshopper Legs & Ghost Mai Leung Thayer

Grasshopper Legs & Ghost: A Chinese woman's story of tradition, survival, loss, and loveMai Leung Thayer's memoir is the fascinating autobiography of a Chinese woman, offering an inspiring true story of perseverance. As a young girl growing up in China, Thayer faced Japanese occupation, the dawn of Chinese communism, and a culture of harsh standards for women. Through it all, she found inspiration in the woman warriors of Chinese legend which ignited an inner strength to wage a personal battle for education, independence, and love. In this honest and moving memoir, beautifully written with an evocative and lyrical, Thayer shares her touching and tragic story of love and loss. Her exquisite writing transports the reader across time and place, from prewar Hong Kong to a wartime village in mainland China to Main Line Philadelphia. While in college in Hong Kong, Thayer and a handsome American, her Ghost, fall deeply in love and begin a breathtakingly romantic and secret courtship in early 1960s Hong Kong. Thayer makes the difficult decision to leave her family and a bright future in her homeland behind, and marries into her husband's prominent Philadelphia society family, breaking both cultures' traditions while learning to build a bridge between them - and forging her own destiny. Thayer's keen and insightful observations of the world around her fill each page with playful humor and colorful characters with names such as cousin Cow Dung, Noble Face, Obedience, and Silent Toad. Readers will delight in her exuberant spirit of adventure and join her colorful journey across decades, continents, and cultures. This compelling and inspiring story of one woman's journey of perseverance will touch and move readers young and old. In Grasshopper Legs & Ghost, Thayer shares her candid account of seeking independence in a culture of subservience and moving to another country for love. Readers everywhere will find inspiration in this riveting memoir of a strong woman's tenacious zest for life.