The Crystal Ribbon
Page 21
Thank you to all my professors and friends at Manhattanville College and The New School, who were endlessly supportive of me and my writing. I’d like to give a shout-out to Professor Phyllis Shalant, whose class inspired the very first chapters of this book; Professor Jeff Bens, who saw the book through its first draft; and Professor Caron A. Levis, my helpful and inspiring thesis advisor. Also thanks to my beta readers—Cheryl, Aly, and especially Xiao Ming, for telling me apples didn’t exist in China back then! And a very special thanks goes to the people who read the very first and worst book I wrote more than ten years ago. Thank you, Ning, Yeeng, and Yen Ping, for telling me that it was good.
Finally, a thank-you to Mum and Dad, without whom this whole dream wouldn’t be possible in the first place. Thank you for finally letting me walk my own path. And, Darius, you sikjik, for bullying me into mentioning you even though you did nothing, so I’ll be an annoying sister and embarrass you here.
And just so I could end on a light note—thanks, Em, for being the sunshine you are.
Celeste Lim was born and raised in Malaysia, where she spent the early years of her life envious of the children she read about in English storybooks. Something special happened when she learned to draw from the golden threads of her own heritage, weaving The Crystal Ribbon, a story that was inspired by her great-grandmother and a culture that she had once ignored.
A graduate of the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at The New School, Celeste lives in Queens with her Pomeranian, Hamlet. The Crystal Ribbon is her first novel.
Copyright © 2017 by Celeste Lim
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Cover illustration © 2017 by Olivia Chin Mueller
Cover design by Carol Ly
First edition, February 2017
e-ISBN 978-0-545-76705-7
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