Goodreads Singapore discussion

Been trying to identify this novel by a local female author to add to my reading log:

Published latest 2006, the book begins with Pauline (Chinese name Pui Fen) returning to Singapore after her mother's death. The story is about Pauline's mother's youth up to her death.

There's a scene where the young unmarried mother answered the father's doorbell wearing a samfoo.

Pui Fen and her parents moved to Australia during her childhood and her parents named her Pauline after the white kids made fun of her Chinese name. Singing the Australian national anthem Advance Australia Fair, little Pauline hoped to become as white as her white classmates.

Pauline recalled that when her father was unhappy with her mother, the mother would make half/soft boiled eggs and carry them up to the father on a tray with both hands. This is why she can't smell eggs cooked that way without gagging.

At the end of the book back in the present day timeline, Pauline discovered her mum died because of a goldfish she didn't get as a child.

I thought this is one of Suchen Christine Lim's books, but it doesn't match any of the books listed on her website, so it's likely by another female author around the same age, but I can't recall who.

Scrolling through NLB's Singapore fiction list in reverse chronological order hoping to find this book, but hoping someone else here can help me identify the book. Thanks!

It sounds vaguely familiar. Could it be one of Catherine Lim’s books?

Justine wrote: "It sounds vaguely familiar. Could it be one of Catherine Lim’s books?"

Not her either - she's the other author whose bibliography I checked.