Two sparrowhawks in a lonely sky by Rebecca Lim

Award-winning author Rebecca Lim whose book, Tiger Daughter was the CBCA Book Of the Year Older Reader winner in 2022, has once again explored the journey of migration from China to Australia in Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky. In this deeply moving story two young Chinese children, thirteen-year-old Fu and his younger sister Pei, live through extreme hardship in a small village in rural Southern China in the 1950’s. The conditions the children and their mother Yun face after their father Ju vanishes to Australia are deeply disturbing and heartbreaking.

After the tragedy of losing their mother, the two children find strength and courage to make the long journey in search of their father, who in China had been a teacher and activist and was considered an enemy of the new government of Mao Zedong and his Collectives plans. With just a photo, a letter and a menu from a Chinese restaurant in Australia, the children must travel frightening distances trusting that the adults they encounter: Cadre Ling Wei, Sister Zeng, Miss Ewa, Kevin Stevenson and Bob Chen, will finally deliver them into the hands of their father.

The striking descriptions of Fu and Lei’s journey from Southern China to the bustling Hong Kong Harbour and city, and the experiences of living and travelling on the sampan are beautifully written and will bring these places and times alive for the reader. The depth of the characters with their back stories and tenacious zest for survival is powerful, in particular the stories of Cadre Ling Wei and Sister Zeng, whose life experiences are so different yet they have a such strong connection.

This book shares with the reader the plight of people in China in the 1950’s, their struggle to survive each day, their need for a safer and better life for their families and the risks they would take to achieve this. The story also highlights the racist and shameful ‘White Australia Policy’ and in the words of Rebecca Lim in her Author’s Note p. 292-293:

 “At some point in our family trees, most of us came from somewhere other than here…This country was never white to begin with, and yet Australia persevered with an immigration policy that sought to ensure that, in Alfred Deakin’s words, the “yellow, the brown, and the copper coloured are to be forbidden to land anywhere.”

Two Sparrowhawks in a Lonely Sky is a compelling story that will engage and provide readers with a vivid glimpse ininto an historical time and place that may be unfamiliar and promote further discussion and research.

Themes: China, Family, Poverty, Tragedy, Hardship, Danger, Courage, Hope, Kindness, Friendship, Refugees, Racism, Australia.

Kathryn Beilby