The Boy You Always Wanted

This thoughtful romance is centred in the Chinese/Vietnamese community in America. Ollie and Francine’s families are old friends, adhering to the customs which have always governed their lives.  One of these states that every family must have a male heir so that he can make offerings to the dead in order to save them from neglect in the afterlife. Francine’s family are without a male heir and when her grandfather becomes terminally ill he is plunged into anxiety at this gap in his heritage. Francine, ever the dutiful and loving granddaughter, determines to solve the problem so that her beloved grandfather can die in peace.

Her solution is to ask Ollie, the boy she has known longest in her life, if he will be an honorary godson to her grandfather. After his first horrified refusal he realises that his family owe a debt to Francine’s as his father was brought up by them when his father was killed.  In addition, he needs to provide photos of family history to meet the demands of the Multicultural Society which Francine suggested he joined to boost his personal statement for admission to a top university.

When he undertakes his honorary duties, Quach begins to weave a new fabric into the narrative-a slow and subtle attraction between the two protagonists, all the more powerful for its restraint. This plot development allows her to create Jiya and Rollo – she a promising artist, he a would-be business man – as both distractions and accomplices and the narrative thread is thus serious and lively in turn.

One consequence of Francine and Ollie taking centre stage is that both have a safety net in which to explore deeper personal issues. Francine’s discovery of a family secret helps her to realise that her determination to help others overwhelms her need to consider herself, to recognise her strengths and gain a more positive perspective on her self-esteem. In turn, Ollie learns that the canon of ‘being a man,’ not showing feelings has become worthless for him and this allows him to declare his feelings to Francine. Quach writes with a delicate sensitivity which gives the relationship veracity and a quiet dignity: a resounding success in a genre often littered with heavy-handed pitfalls.