Trapeze orders Hui's debut memoir Takeaway

Trapeze has secured Angela Hui’s "eye-opening" debut memoir Takeaway: Stories From a Childhood Behind the Counter.

Commissioning editor Ru Merritt acquired UK and Commonwealth rights, including print, digital and audio rights, from Nicola Chang of David Higham Associates. Takeaway will publish on 21st July 2022.  

Hui is a food and drink journalist at Time Out London, who grew up in her family’s Chinese takeaway in rural Wales. As one of the few Chinese families in the area, Hui was made aware from a young age about prejudice: from attacks on the shopfront, to verbal and physical abuse from customers. Yet, there was also beauty and joy found in watching her parents’ partnership, helping them prepare for service and sharing family dinners cooked by her mother.  

Takeaway “shines a light on a facet of the British Chinese experience that is thus far extremely under-explored". Combining  Cantonese recipes with illustrations from tattoo artist Georgina Leung, it brings together Hui’s Welsh and Chinese heritage in a “powerful memoir that will capture readers’ attention and spark conversations (and an appetite)”.  

Merritt commented: “I first came across Angela on Twitter when she called out a high-profile chef’s false claims of ‘authenticity’ when opening their new Chinese restaurant. I knew she was someone I needed to get to know and, of course, publish. Delightfully, I’ve been proved right as her memoir is one that, as both an editor and reader with Chinese heritage, I didn’t realise I had been waiting so long to read. While there were many times in the editing process I found myself laughing at the bizarre and eye-opening anecdotes Angela shares about running and living in a takeaway, there were also just as many moments where I realised I’d been holding my breath for the past few pages as I was in shock at how her family were being treated and the behaviour they had to endure, simply to make a living.” 

Hui added: “I’m so stoked to be joining the Trapeze family. To be given the opportunity to write my Chinese takeaway story and to share some of my most personal family recipes is a dream come true, under the guidance of my book editor Ru Merritt and her brilliant team and my superb agent Nicola Chang, who all understood my vision and deep passion to celebrate, as well as tell the history and hardships of British Chinese food. I hope Takeaway will show readers another side to the Chinese takeaways they know and love, the determination and struggles faced by takeaway owners as well as how unique the identity and flavours of the Chinese takeaway cuisine are.”