The Life of Lee Lye Hoe

An Unsung Woman Hero

De: James Wolter

Narrado por: Chloe Ong

The Life of Lee Lye Hoe is a fictionalized adventure story based on the life of a real person who was the nanny for author’s wife, Fong Moke Chee, when she was a child and their two children. She was born in the paternalistic rural society of Canton China in 1921. At age six her father abandoned her and her mother, leaving them to manage the family farm on their own. At age sixteen her mother died leaving her to manage the farm on her own and to raise two younger orphaned girl cousins. After two years, in fear she and her two young charges will be executed by communist guerillas because she is a landowner, they must flea China. They escape on a freighter by agreeing to become indentured servants (amahs) to a family in Penang, Malaya (now Malaysia). The mistress of the household is cruel to them. Lee Lye Hoe’s cousins find work with other families but she remains because she loves and cannot abandon the family’s baby girl. The master of the household falls on hard times during WW II and she, through ingenuity, hard work, and self-sacrifice finds a way to keep the family afloat and to eventually send her beloved Moke Chee to study in Europe to become an educated lady of the world. Lee Lye Hoe faces more tragedy, trials, and tribulations than any one person should ever face in a lifetime, but from a young age, this inspirational gutsy young woman manages each challenge with courage and dignity.

©2025 James A. Wolter (P)2025 James A. Wolter