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Review: Lizard's Tale

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The heady scent of tropical blooms and odorous perfume of food street vendors waft deliciously throughout this action-packed middle grade read by debut author, Weng Wai Chan . Set in the turbulent early 1940s in pre-war Singapore, Lizard's Tale is an exotic dim sum steamer full of mystery, dubious characters, spies and espionage that barely takes a breath. Lizard is an all but orphaned boy eking out an existence in Singapore's Chinatown. Home is a windowless cubicle above a tailor's shop and survival means he has to resort to charging money for writing other people's letters and petty theft. It's an unsavoury childhood at best and one he is keen to abandon. He yearns to return to his home by the sea at Changi, which he shared with his enigmatic Uncle Archie, who has been his guardian since his parents died but after Uncle Archie mysteriously disappears and fails to return home one day, Lizard is left alone and vulnerable. So when he is coerced into a job fo