In Keep My Memory Safe (2023), Stephanie Chitpin reflects on her 1970s childhood in Mauritius—in a Buddhist temple and on Rue Leoville L’Homme in Chinatown, on her immigration to Canada as a young adult and, ultimately, the complex process of reconciling her origin story with her evolving understanding of belonging.
In fewer than two hundred pages, in spare but evocative prose, she describes the individuals who profoundly shaped her values, identity, and choices. Most often clear-eyed, occasionally lyrical, she situates herself as a child in a series of scenes—those from daily life in the pagoda and Mr. Chui’s teashop are particularly vivid—but offers an adult’s interpretation alongside, so that readers have the sense of fully inhabiting her perspective across time.
As when her guardian Ah Pak discovered the fountain pen that Chitpin received for scholastic achievements, for instance:
“She put up a front as if she was angry at me for spending so much time on my studies instead of reading the scriptures or chants. However, I suspected she was proud of my achievement and successes. I witnessed exchanges between her and the Chui family, where the latter would complain about Park’s poor performance. I could tell she was silently proud.”
Her readers benefit from her present-day capacity to unravel complicated, even contradictory, psychological responses and emotional experiences.
The inherent power of Chitpin’s narrative is the reverberation of authenticity and vulnerability. She confronts painful truths in the process of understanding how she was brought from Hong Kong to Mauritius, where she was raised as an orphan in the Fook Soo Am temple, and schooled to be grateful for a life of service.
A detailed and deeply moving memoir, worth reading and rereading for its wisdom and tenderness.
Publisher: Baraka Books