Sour Sweet

Timothy Mo's second novel follows an immigrant family from Hong Kong as they try to establish a new life in 1960s Soho (London). The story is earnest at times and it has a crime-related plot thread that doesn't hold together. However, Mo's characterization is excellent and he captures the in-between state of immigration quite well ("The Chens had been living in the UK for four years, which was long enough to have lost their place in the society from which they had emigrated but not long enough to feel comfortable in the new").