Looking After the Ashes: Old Wives' Tales, Taboos; Supernatural and Childhood Superstitions by Kopi Soh

A book of superstitious old wives tales, supernatural events, and taboos.

If you eat while lying down, you will turn into a snake. If you don't polish off all the rice on your plate you will marry a man full of pimples and pockmarks.

Looking After the Ashes is a semi-biographical fiction of Kopi Soh's childhood stories. Growing up in a large extended Taoist influenced Peranakan family filled with strong women, Soh hears these words of 'wisdom' daily. 

She used to live in a world where clipping finger nails at night was strictly forbidden, pointing at the moon would result in one's ears getting chopped off, and children were forced to stay indoors during sundown for fear of collision with evil forces.

A world where mental disorders and illnesses were believed to be caused by malevolent spirits. Talisman, mediums and fortune tellers were a part of everyday life.

Product details

    Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Random House SEA (31 Aug. 2021)
    Language ‏ : ‎ English
    Paperback ‏ : ‎ 206 pages
    ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9814882100
    ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-9814882101
    Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 12.7 x 1.52 x 19.69 cm

    Customer reviews: 4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 11 ratings

About the Author

Kopi Soh is the pseudonym of a US based Malaysian author and illustrator best known for her book Oh, I Thought I Was The Only One. She founded the Facebook community 'Stick It To Me', a page centered around producing 'healing art' for the terminally sick and needy, and organizes a group of volunteers to produce art for hospitals and charities. Her work with 'Stick It To Me' was recognized in the Digi WWWOW Awards 2015, winning an award in the Social Gathering category. She also served as the official illustrator for TEDxWeldQuay 2013. Kopi Soh's first book, Oh, I Thought I Was The Only One, published by Dawning Victory Consultancy in 2012, is a self-help book oriented towards creating awareness of common psychological issues which manifest in daily life. In 2013, Kopi Soh published her second book, Oh, I Thought I Was the Only One 2, a sequel focusing on how children experience various stresses in their daily lives and teaching them skills on how to overcome them.