Red Pockets

Mah’s rich, reflective book is focused on a different type of connection between the past and the present… I had not read a book making these links before, and it is a compelling and moving narrative – Maya Goodfellow * Guardian *Fear of the future, an ache for the past, the present awash with disquiet: into this turmoil, Alice Mah’s book appears like a little red boat, keeping hope afloat against all odds – Anita Roy * Guardian *Moving and imaginative… One of the most unusual and powerful books I’ve read in a long time – Rosemary Goring * The Herald *Mah’s writing is intelligent and highly observational… she’s a strong, lucid storyteller – Mark Rowe * Geographical *Sensitive and sensible… Mah seems fortuitously well-placed to be between despair and fortitude * Scotsman *A beautifully written, deeply fascinating and richly thought-provoking book which looks, bravely, at what it means to live at this most ecologically destructive time; about what we inherit, and what we leave behind. Moving, important and finely crafted – Lucy JonesRed Pockets is a fascinating exploration of the linkages between ancestral inheritance, diasporic belonging, and our climate future. Mah takes us on a keenly observed, immersive journey, from an astute sociological portrait of a Chinese clan village to toxic petrochemical towns to the green hills of Glasgow, and offers surprising, beautifully interconnected insights on material and psychic debt, climate despair, trauma and hope. I read it in one sitting, which took me on a moving and often unexpected journey – Aube Rey LescureMah asks beautiful questions on grief, climate and identity that are as urgent as they are pensive. The result is a spiritual Bildungsroman that envelops the reader in a meditation on past, present and future – Jenny Lau

Alice Mah is a Chinese Canadian-British writer and Professor of Urban and Environmental Studies at the University of Glasgow. Originally from a small town in northern British Columbia, she has a long-standing interest in ecology and place. Her award-winning research focuses on toxic pollution and environmental justice, the subjects of her most recent books- Petrochemical Planet and Plastic Unlimited. This is her first trade book.