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Handover
It's 1997 and three very different expatriate Britons are living and working in Hong Kong. Sally, a sophisticated, thirty-something magazine editor, finds her life plagued by a ruthless bully. Tess, an idealistic young graduate, embarks on an unlikely office romance. And Rob, the most recently arrived of the three, is haunted by an enigmatic ex-lover. As the date of the Handover draws closer, and each of the three falls further under the spell of their adopted city, their lives criss-cross and start spinning out of control. July 1st, dawn of the reunification with mainland China, will find one in prison awaiting trial for armed assault, one in disillusion and deep denial, and the third floating face-down in the waters off Macau. Handover, a vivid, cinematic new novella by Paul Blaney, writer in residence at Rutgers University, peels back the skin of expatriate Hong Kong to uncover vengeance, betrayal, and madness.
91 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 23, 2012
21 people want to read
About the author
Paul Blaney
8 books22 followersI was born in England to parents who'd recently moved from Belfast. They were on their way to Tasmania, but that's another story (life). I'm the second of five children--two brothers, two sisters. Since studying Classics at college I've moved around a bit. I taught English for a year in Lisbon, had a short, dull career in reference publishing, and traveled in India, Australia and New Zealand. Then in early 1996 I ended up in Hong Kong, on a nice little island called Lamma. My experience of living and working in Hong Kong are the substance of my novella, Handover.
From Hong Kong I moved direct to Eugene, Oregon (cue culture shock!) where I studied for an MFA in Creative Writing. Back in London, I taught, wrote, and met my lovely wife Karen who's from Louisville Kentucky. She brought me back to America, first to New Jersey (where we both still work at Rutgers) then to Allentown, PA. That about brings me up to date.
From Hong Kong I moved direct to Eugene, Oregon (cue culture shock!) where I studied for an MFA in Creative Writing. Back in London, I taught, wrote, and met my lovely wife Karen who's from Louisville Kentucky. She brought me back to America, first to New Jersey (where we both still work at Rutgers) then to Allentown, PA. That about brings me up to date.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 20, 2013
It’s a thrill to read a book written by a friend you’ve known since year dot. And a relief to discover it’s excellent. Paul Blaney's novella deals with three lost souls living in Hong Kong at the end of British colonial rule in 1997. Their overlapping stories are intense and disturbing. If you’ve ever lived abroad you’ll recognise their confusion, know how easy it is for ex-pats to “lose their bearings” and “do all manner of things they’d never dream of at home”. But even if you've never owned a passport, Handover is an entertaining read. You can download it for the price of a coffee. You really should.
December 30, 2012
Paul Blaney's three-part novel takes place months, weeks, and days before Britain handed over Hong Kong to China in 1997. Each story overlaps just enough with the other to link them together. If Wong Kar-wai were to make an expat version of "Chungking Express", he would adapt "Handover".
The book starts with the story of Tess, a recent graduate from the UK. She leaves her family and a boyfriend back in England to find herself in Hong Kong. An aunt and uncle live in Happy Valley and have extended an open invitation to her. So she takes them up on it, and through her uncle's connection finds a job as a newspaper photo editor. She's not impressed with the groups of detached expats she meets and is determined not to be like them. At work she strikes up a friendship with Sam, a graphic designer and cartoonist. Sam is one of the few locals in her office, and it's soon apparent to Tess that the East-West divide at play in Hong Kong also defines local and expat relationships at work. Tess shuns that behavior and spends her lunch breaks with Sam. On her days off, she thinks of him. She even asks to meet his mother, a chicken farmer. One evening their relationship changes forever. Is it a cultural misunderstanding, or was their relationship doomed from the beginning?
The next story revolves around Rob, a recent UK transplant. He comes to Hong Kong because his last girlfriend had lived there for a couple of years before they met back in the UK. Although Rob had a comfortable and satisfying job in England, he gives that up to experience the Hong Kong that Jane knew. He lives in a couple of backpacker hostels in Kowloon, presumably in or around Chungking Mansions, until he finds a small flat in Kennedy Town on Hong Kong Island. Tess from the first story also lives in the same building. Rob finds a job as a bartender in a posh hotel bar, twenty-plus stories above ground level in Tsim Sha Tsui. The bar patrons are mostly an expat crowd who go there to enjoy the stunning harbor views and congregate with other expats. A supporting character in this and the Tess story is Elaine, a willowy South African lawyer who befriends Rob and gets him to talk about his relationship with Jane. On the night of the Handover, Rob makes a decision that will change his life.
In the first two stories, a minor character named Sally makes an appearance. She's British, a women's magazine editor, in her thirties. There's mention in the first two stories about a gruesome incident in the hotel where Rob works. In this final story we learn about Sally and the sexual harassment she suffers at the hands of Gordon, a former boss. Unrelenting and violent, Gordon won't leave Sally alone. An older Cantonese woman at work gives Sally the phone number of someone who can help her get rid of Gordon once and for all. By the time the Handover rolls around, Sally's future is in flux and her family all but abandons her back in the UK.
I thought Paul Blaney did an excellent job of portraying the Handover and the mood in Hong Kong during that historic era. His characters are all unique and sympathetic. This is not a stereotypical expat-in-Asia novel, as each character has a unique set of problems and ways to deal with them.
The book starts with the story of Tess, a recent graduate from the UK. She leaves her family and a boyfriend back in England to find herself in Hong Kong. An aunt and uncle live in Happy Valley and have extended an open invitation to her. So she takes them up on it, and through her uncle's connection finds a job as a newspaper photo editor. She's not impressed with the groups of detached expats she meets and is determined not to be like them. At work she strikes up a friendship with Sam, a graphic designer and cartoonist. Sam is one of the few locals in her office, and it's soon apparent to Tess that the East-West divide at play in Hong Kong also defines local and expat relationships at work. Tess shuns that behavior and spends her lunch breaks with Sam. On her days off, she thinks of him. She even asks to meet his mother, a chicken farmer. One evening their relationship changes forever. Is it a cultural misunderstanding, or was their relationship doomed from the beginning?
The next story revolves around Rob, a recent UK transplant. He comes to Hong Kong because his last girlfriend had lived there for a couple of years before they met back in the UK. Although Rob had a comfortable and satisfying job in England, he gives that up to experience the Hong Kong that Jane knew. He lives in a couple of backpacker hostels in Kowloon, presumably in or around Chungking Mansions, until he finds a small flat in Kennedy Town on Hong Kong Island. Tess from the first story also lives in the same building. Rob finds a job as a bartender in a posh hotel bar, twenty-plus stories above ground level in Tsim Sha Tsui. The bar patrons are mostly an expat crowd who go there to enjoy the stunning harbor views and congregate with other expats. A supporting character in this and the Tess story is Elaine, a willowy South African lawyer who befriends Rob and gets him to talk about his relationship with Jane. On the night of the Handover, Rob makes a decision that will change his life.
In the first two stories, a minor character named Sally makes an appearance. She's British, a women's magazine editor, in her thirties. There's mention in the first two stories about a gruesome incident in the hotel where Rob works. In this final story we learn about Sally and the sexual harassment she suffers at the hands of Gordon, a former boss. Unrelenting and violent, Gordon won't leave Sally alone. An older Cantonese woman at work gives Sally the phone number of someone who can help her get rid of Gordon once and for all. By the time the Handover rolls around, Sally's future is in flux and her family all but abandons her back in the UK.
I thought Paul Blaney did an excellent job of portraying the Handover and the mood in Hong Kong during that historic era. His characters are all unique and sympathetic. This is not a stereotypical expat-in-Asia novel, as each character has a unique set of problems and ways to deal with them.
January 3, 2013
On July 1, 1997, the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong became the unique Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, ending 156 years of colonial rule. Hong Kong, which translates to “Fragrant Harbor,” had for years been considered in financial, governmental and tourism circles, as a shining jewel.
The colony attracted many expatriates who were lured there for the heady “East-Meets-West” mix of people, the city’s dazzling cultural attractions and nightlife, the innovative high-density architecture and by the prospects of fortunes to be made and new lives to be started. Expats, however, always live within a curious limbo because they are never quite native and never quite who they were before they arrived. This limbo became more intense in Kong Kong as the date of the handover from British to Chinese rule approached.
Three interlocking stories comprise Paul Blaney’s novella "Handover" (Signal 8 Press, November 2012). His three expat Brits arrive in Hong Kong and find that the complexities of their own lives are somehow made more urgent and dear because of the changes and potential turbulence of the long-awaited handover.
Tess, whose aunt and uncle live in Kong Kong, graduates from college and then arrives and finds work as a photo editor. Rob arrives with a head filled with memories of a former girlfriend who once lived there and begins to relive them while working as a bartender. Sally, a magazine editor, must confront on-the-job sexual harassment and the abandonment of her family when she defends herself and ends up in the colony’s criminal justice system.
The novella’s sections, each of which is—like Kong Kong—a compact and shining jewel, are bound together by the setting, minor characters and by the looming political and cultural manifestations of the handover. The stories are told in a non-linear style, giving them a kaleidoscopic organization and texture akin to that of Hong Kong itself. As such, the the novella depicts multiple slices of life rather than a traditional tale with a plot line leading through conflicts to an overt resolution.
Well-read readers may see the dark and gritty world of Blaney’s expats as a prospective new level of hell for Dante’s Divine Comedy: here in a heady world where everything wonderful is so close and so possible, doom is a likely result. Adventurous readers, those who love new things, new things with a hint of danger and intrigue, will discover that Paul Blaney’s "Handover" has many gritty delights to offer.
The novella is also a spot-on description of the the beauty and poverty of Kong Kong during a time in its history when nothing was certain.
The colony attracted many expatriates who were lured there for the heady “East-Meets-West” mix of people, the city’s dazzling cultural attractions and nightlife, the innovative high-density architecture and by the prospects of fortunes to be made and new lives to be started. Expats, however, always live within a curious limbo because they are never quite native and never quite who they were before they arrived. This limbo became more intense in Kong Kong as the date of the handover from British to Chinese rule approached.
Three interlocking stories comprise Paul Blaney’s novella "Handover" (Signal 8 Press, November 2012). His three expat Brits arrive in Hong Kong and find that the complexities of their own lives are somehow made more urgent and dear because of the changes and potential turbulence of the long-awaited handover.
Tess, whose aunt and uncle live in Kong Kong, graduates from college and then arrives and finds work as a photo editor. Rob arrives with a head filled with memories of a former girlfriend who once lived there and begins to relive them while working as a bartender. Sally, a magazine editor, must confront on-the-job sexual harassment and the abandonment of her family when she defends herself and ends up in the colony’s criminal justice system.
The novella’s sections, each of which is—like Kong Kong—a compact and shining jewel, are bound together by the setting, minor characters and by the looming political and cultural manifestations of the handover. The stories are told in a non-linear style, giving them a kaleidoscopic organization and texture akin to that of Hong Kong itself. As such, the the novella depicts multiple slices of life rather than a traditional tale with a plot line leading through conflicts to an overt resolution.
Well-read readers may see the dark and gritty world of Blaney’s expats as a prospective new level of hell for Dante’s Divine Comedy: here in a heady world where everything wonderful is so close and so possible, doom is a likely result. Adventurous readers, those who love new things, new things with a hint of danger and intrigue, will discover that Paul Blaney’s "Handover" has many gritty delights to offer.
The novella is also a spot-on description of the the beauty and poverty of Kong Kong during a time in its history when nothing was certain.
January 24, 2013
The handover ceremony of Hong Kong in 1997 officially marked the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China
Handover is a book of three separate novellas about three expats living in Hong Kong just prior and leading up to this event. Very interesting how the author intertwines the lives of these three people. Hong Kong is a bustling city with a myriad of people from all walks of life, the rich and the poor. Tess, moves to Hong Kong for change and has an office romance that goes awry, Rob goes to Hong Kong after his lover goes missing and he starts seeing her everywhere and then there is Sally who is being charged with murder. Of the three stories I found Rob's to be the strangest one.. I was left not quite knowing what happened there. This book was a fast read and well worth it. I enjoyed it..
Handover is a book of three separate novellas about three expats living in Hong Kong just prior and leading up to this event. Very interesting how the author intertwines the lives of these three people. Hong Kong is a bustling city with a myriad of people from all walks of life, the rich and the poor. Tess, moves to Hong Kong for change and has an office romance that goes awry, Rob goes to Hong Kong after his lover goes missing and he starts seeing her everywhere and then there is Sally who is being charged with murder. Of the three stories I found Rob's to be the strangest one.. I was left not quite knowing what happened there. This book was a fast read and well worth it. I enjoyed it..
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews