“Dancing was fun; it didn't seem like a job but a party every day.”
“They practised dancing seriously; it was their life!”
“It is an ugly profession; to prostitute oneself... is a commonly accepted practice.”
Glitz, glamour, and sleaze is what people may remember of the cabaret girls of yesteryear. With curiosity and an open mind, Adeline Foo sets out to uncover the lives of these women and how, even with few dreams and hopes to strive for, these women lived with much heart and courage despite society's disapproving eye. The music of the dance hall may have faded away, but this book carries the echoes of their dance steps, connecting us with a forgotten past that was inspired by faith, hope and charity.
Adeline Foo is an MFA graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Asia. She has 24 published children’s books, including seven national bestsellers. The Diary of Amos Lee: I Sit, I Write, I Flush! won the inaugural Red Dot award for “Best Junior Fiction” presented by the International School Libraries Network (Singapore) in 2009. The Diary of Amos Lee: I'm Twelve, I'm Tough, I Tweet! won second runner-up at the Popular Readers’ Choice Award in 2011. The Diary of Amos Lee is also published in India, Indonesia, China and the Slovak Republic. It has also been adapted for a 10-part TV series on Singapore’s MediaCorp children’s channel, okto.
Lancing Girls of a Happy World is Adeline’s first non-fiction book for adults, which marks a big shift in her writing career. This book draws on the special bond between a woman and a child, as deep-rooted in her as in the “lancing” girls: Adeline’s attention was transfixed when she read about two cabaret girls starting a school for children they could never have as their own.
