“My dad helped addicts get off drugs and would sit with them while they were detoxing … he still has friends who are former addicts,” says Pim of her father, who today is a pastor and founder of the New Dawn Vineyard, a church in the heart of Klong Toey, site of Bangkok’s biggest slum.
Pim’s 2023 novel The Moon Represents My Heart – the name is taken from a 1977 hit song by the late Taiwanese singer Teresa Teng – tells the story of the Wangs, a British-Chinese family with the secret ability to travel through time.
After the parents vanish, their son and daughter search for them across time, while coming of age.
“It’s less sci-fi and more magic realism,” she says, adding that the character of Joshua, the father in the book – he grew up in the Walled City – is loosely based on her father.
“Partly setting the book in Hong Kong made sense, as it combined my dad’s experiences there. Setting some of it in Britain was my experience,” says Pim, who holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature from King’s College London and a master’s in creative writing from Edinburgh Napier University.
“I spent a lot of time in London and I’m a huge fan of Liverpool,” she says, stretching out the soccer club’s distinctive red jersey she is wearing for the interview.
It’s that sort of down-to-earth attitude that has helped her get noticed in Thailand, where she is a rising star in literary circles.
Netflix is on track to turn The Moon Represents My Heart into a series, with Hollywood star Gemma Chan of Crazy Rich Asians fame on board as producer – “and maybe even the role of the mum Lily – it depends on scheduling”, says Pim.
Pim, 32, has been dealing with a lot of “pinch myself” moments since learning of Chan’s interest in her book. Sceptics of the power of manifestation might want to take a leaf out of hers.
“I had Gemma in mind to play the role of Lily and then she reached out … it blew my mind.”
The book probably resonated with Chan because of her own experience being raised in a British-Chinese family, Pim believes.
“So I think the family dynamics really resonated with Gemma.”
Budding writers in Hong Kong keen to learn more about Pim’s journey are in luck. The author is in the city to take part in talks and workshops hosted by the Hong Kong International Literary Festival (HKILF) from July 21-23.
Pim, whose mother is from a “big old Thai family” and whose dad is Chinese but born in Bangkok, says her love affair with writing started at a young age. She admits to being a pop-culture sponge.
“I also believe that what helped me in terms of expanding my walls and helping me better understand people was my childhood, because I grew up exposed to so many different types of people,” says Pim, who has written for the Mekong Review and Nikkei Asian Review.
Pim’s advice for budding writers is not to overthink things.
“The most important thing is to get the story out because, as writers, we’re overthinkers by nature.”