Golden Parasol

'Die, and it's the vile earth, live, and it's the golden parasol,' went the old Burmese saying. Why not aim for the pinnacle with everything they had? The vile earth would be theirs soon enough. A year after Burma's military coup in 1962, Ed Law-Yone, daredevil proprietor of the influential newspaper, The Nation, was arrested and his newspaper shut down. Eventually, his teenaged daughter Wendy was also imprisoned before managing to escape the country. Ed spent five years as a political prisoner, but the moment he was freed he set about trying - unsuccessfully - to stage a revolution, and never gave up hope for the restoration of democracy in Burma. Exiled in America, he died disappointed - though not before entrusting to his daughter Wendy his papers and unpublished memoirs: of a career that had spanned the full sweep of modern Burmese history - from colonial rule to independence, from the era of parliamentary democracy to the military coup that would usher in decades of totalitarian rule. Now, some forty years later, as Burma enters another period of transition, Wendy Law-Yone has honoured her father's legacy by setting his remarkable career in a larger, more personal, story. The result is Golden Parasol, a unique portrait of a patriot, his family, and a nation whose vicissitudescontinue to intrigue the world.

'Die, and it's the vile earth; live, and it's the golden parasol,'
went the old Burmese saying. Why not aim for the pinnacle
with everything they had?
The vile earth would be theirs soon enough.

A year after Burma's military coup in 1962, Ed Law-Yone, daredevil proprietor of the influential newspaper, *The Natio*n, was arrested and his newspaper shut down.
Eventually, his teenaged daughter Wendy was also imprisoned before managing to escape the country.

Ed spent five years as a political prisoner, but the moment he was freed he set about trying - unsuccessfully - to stage a revolution, and never gave up hope for the restoration of democracy in Burma. Exiled in America, he died disappointed - though not before entrusting to his daughter Wendy his papers and unpublished memoirs: of a career that had spanned the full sweep of modern Burmese history - from colonial rule to independence; from the era of parliamentary democracy to the military coup that would usher in decades of totalitarian rule.

Now, some forty years later, as Burma enters another period of transition, Wendy Law-Yone has honoured her father's legacy by setting his remarkable career in a larger, more personal, story. The result is Golden Parasol, a unique portrait of a patriot, his family, and a nation whose vicissitudescontinue to intrigue the world.

Préface
A unique portrait of Burma and a powerfully evocative memoir of a daughter and her father

Auteur

Wendy Law-Yone was born in Mandalay, Burma, and grew up in Rangoon before fleeing the country at the age of twenty. In America, where she settled for the next three decades, she published two novels, The Coffin Tree and Irrawaddy Tango. A David T.K. Wong creative writing fellowship at the University of East Anglia brought her to the UK in 2002, and she has stayed here ever since. Her third novel, The Road to Wanting, **was longlisted for the Orange Prize. She lives in London with her husband.

Résumé
Die, and it s the vile earth; live, and it s the golden parasol, went the old Burmese saying. Why not aim for the pinnacle with everything they had? The vile earth would be theirs soon enough. A year after Burma s military coup in 1962, Ed Law-Yone, daredevil proprietor of the influential newspaper, The Nation, was arrested and his newspaper shut down. Eventually, his teenaged daughter Wendy was also imprisoned before managing to escape the country. Ed spent five years as a political prisoner, but the moment he was freed he set about trying unsuccessfully to stage a revolution, and never gave up hope for the restoration of democracy in Burma. Exiled in America, he died disappointed though not before entrusting to his daughter Wendy his papers and unpublished memoirs: of a career that had spanned the full sweep of modern Burmese history from colonial rule to independence; from the era of parliamentary democracy to the military coup that would usher in decades of totalitarian rule. Now, some forty years later, as Burma enters another period of transition, Wendy Law-Yone has honoured her father s legacy by setting his remarkable career in a larger, more personal, story. The result is Golden Parasol, a unique portrait of a patriot, his family, and a nation whose vicissitudescontinue to intrigue the world.