The Girl with the Butterfly Hands

Chin Yu was born in a London slum to a Chinese man and a British woman. When Chin was seven the family moved to her father's village in China but he died soon after they arrived. Her mother took the children to live in Hong Kong where, a few years later, she remarried.

A few months after Britain had joined World War II, all British women and children were ordered to be evacuated to Australia. However, Chin and her brother were excluded because of the White Australia Policy, so they returned to Hong Kong. Eighteen months later the Japanese invaded and Chin's family were interned in a camp. Although there was great deprivation, Chin fell in love - with a Roman Catholic priest; he was released from the camp to continue his missionary work. A few months later, she and her brother were also released as part of an exchange of American and Japanese civilian prisoners of war.

After a long sea journey, they arrived at New York but found themselves suspected of being Japanese spies and were detained on Ellis Island until the employers of their uncle in Oregon agreed to sponsor them. After a few months there they moved to San Francisco where Chin worked in the propaganda section of the British consulate and she met her first husband, Dick Ellison, who converted her into a passionate socialist. They moved to New York where they were befriended by many radical activists in Greenwich Village.

Chin studied ballet and got a part in the original production of "South Pacific" on Broadway. Later, she was a dancer in the London production of "Kiss me Kate". After six months Dick came to London wanting a divorce.

Many friends helped her get over him and had started having an affair with another actor when she was cast as an understudy in the UK production of "South Pacific". Her opposite number was David Williams, an Australian who was married with a daughter. But they fell in love and had an intense relationship for the duration of "South Pacific" both in London and during its British tour - 3 years in toto - until David was divorced.

Chin left the tour early to play in "Teahouse of the August Moon" in London. David and she married in 1954 and in 1956 a son and daughter (twins) were born. Chin had minor roles in various films, TV plays and even a (non-singing) role in an opera but she was best known for her performance of "hand-mime" - beautiful hand gestures choreographed to accompany lyrics that David sang in their cabaret act._x000D_The family moved to Beckenham, Kent, which is just outside London. Lynne (the author) lived with them and Chin found her to be a difficult child.

In 1960 Chin was in the successful play "A Majority of One" in London, David was managing a theatre nearby in Croydon. All seemed perfect until they heard that David's father was very ill. They decided to move to Australia. Unfortunately, they were too late to see David's father alive, but all his family welcomed Chin very warmly.

The last chapter summarises Chin's life (another fifty years) in Sydney. She was a very supportive wife, a loving and generous mother and stepmother and later, a devoted grandmother. Although she never regained the celebrity she had enjoyed in London, she still played a significant role in the Australian entertainment industry.

Auteur

Lynne was an anaesthetist but she retired about seven years ago. Since then she has been travelling to countries far from her home (a very small flat in the Inner West of Sydney) and writing about her experiences in photobooks for her family. When the covid pandemic arrived she realised she had time to write the story of her stepmother's life. So she took a writers' course, and listened to the advice and encouragement of many friends: this book is the result. When not writing, she is overly busy with friends, family, learning foreign languages, a book club, gym, camping and hiking, Jamie Oliver's cookbook, and Sydney's amazing live theatre. It's exhausting. An overseas trip is needed to get a rest!