Celeste Lim

A third generation Chinese born and raised in Malaysia, Celeste spent the first 17 years of her life envious of the children she read about in English storybooks.

Where was her snow? And her Thanksgiving turkey? Why were there no gnomes and fairies living in her garden? And she absolutely hated it whenever her mom said, “I’m sorry, honey, we don’t have those in Malaysia.”

Her adventure started the year she left for Melbourne to complete her BA degree in English Literature. Though she didn’t manage to find gnomes and fairies, many other childhood dreams came true. And when she arrived in New York City to complete her MFA in Creative Writing at The New School and Manhattanville College, Celeste decided to stay and write—to give young readers this gift that she had received from authors like Enid Blyton long ago–the awareness of many exciting worlds that exist beyond where we live; this awareness that had led her on all the amazing adventures away from home that she never would’ve had if she had never been an extremely jealous child.

Celeste now lives in Queens, New York with her brother and her Pomeranian, Hamlet. The Bride from Hunan is her first novel.

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