Lily and Ma: Family Drama in The Ninja’s Oath by Tori Eldridge

Lily and Ma: Family Drama in The Ninja’s Oath

by Tori Eldridge

What can you expect from a mystery thriller with a twenty-five-year-old protagonist and secret modern-day ninja? In addition to high-octane action, readers can expect a whole lot of family drama angst! Domestic suspense abounds when Lily’s Hong Kong-born mother texts updates from Los Angeles about an undiagnosed illness that has landed Baba, Lily’s North Dakota Norwegian father, in the hospital while Lily risks her own life in Shanghai.

All of the books in the Lily Wong series balance equal parts action, mystery, and cultural family drama. The Ninja’s Oath amps up the stakes across the board. Lily joins forces with her father’s Shanghainese cook and former triad enforcer Lee Chang and the assassin J Tran on Lily’s most dangerous mission yet. At the same time, she untangles the mystery of Chang’s missing relatives and the truth behind why Lily’s ninja teacher, known only as Sensei, left Japan. As Lily faces off with deadly international foes, her endearing father fights for his life in Los Angeles.

Although I loved weaving Shanghai’s history into the Chang lineage to create his intricate family relationships that drive The Ninja’s Oath, some of my favorite scenes to write were between Lily and Ma.

Mother-daughter relationships can be complicated, especially when the mother comes from Hong Kong and her half-Norwegian daughter was born and raised in Arcadia, California. Ma’s unresolved filial obligation impacts her relationship with Lily, already stressed by the grief. These very different women have and continue to process the murder of their daughter/sister Rose in dramatically different ways—Ma runs the Los Angeles division of her father’s international finance company while Lily has changed her life’s course to rescue and protect women and girls from violence.

Every interaction between them carries incendiary history ready to explode, but also hopes for reconciliation and a deep-rooted love. After the revelations and events from The Ninja Betrayed, where Ma witnessed Lily in ninja action while protecting her in Hong Kong, Lily’s mother is unsure how much of her daughter’s dangerous exploits she really wants to know, especially with her husband’s health in dire straights.

Since Lily jetted off to Shanghai without setting up an international phone plan, she and Ma message and video-chat through a China-friendly app.

Excerpt from THE NINJA’S OATH

Ma answered my call, bundled in her robe on the couch in the dark. Her voice sounded quiet and small, like a mouse afraid to be heard. “Hello, Lily.”

I quieted my voice to match hers. “Hey, Ma. You okay?” “Mmm…”

“Wanna turn on a light?”

“Not really. I look like hell.”

“Okay… What happened to Baba?”

“He collapsed in the kitchen again.”

“At the restaurant?”

“Where else? Slaving over those damn woks.”

First hell, now damn? It was never a good sign when my proper mother swore.

“Did he hit his head?” When he’d fallen last week, it had taken twelve stitches to seal up the wound.

“No, thank God. He’s blaming it on dehydration—again.”

“They kept him overnight?”

“Yes. The doctors wanted to run some tests before they let him go. He argued, of course.”

“Let me guess. He regaled them with stories about growing up on a farm, healthy as an ox, trudging through the snow, never sick a day in his life.”

Ma chuckled. “Something like that.” She snuggled deeper into her robe. “He closed the restaurant.”

I nodded. With his head cook sitting next to me in a car in Shanghai, Baba didn’t have anyone capable enough to manage the kitchen and prepare the main dishes. But Ma didn’t care about that. Wong’s Hong Kong Inn was my father’s passion, not hers. What bothered my mother was why. Baba had only shut down the restaurant two times before: once last week when he split open his head and seven years ago when my younger sister was murdered.

“I’m sorry, Ma.”

“For what?”

I paused, full of regret. “For not being there.”

For you or for Rose.

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Read The Ninja’s Oath during its initial release week and join Tori’s Virtual Book Club Event on Wednesday, September 20, 5pm PDT to dive into all the delicious spoiler-alert topics, including the shocking finish and how it might affect the future of Lily Wong.

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THE NINJA’S OATH

THE NINJA’S OATH takes Chinese-Norwegian modern-day ninja, Lily Wong, to Shanghai in an explosive joint mission with her father’s former-triad cook and the assassin J Tran. Get ready for the riveting next book in Tori Eldridge’s bestselling Lily Wong series!

International action adventure ensues when Lily Wong—a Chinese-Norwegian modern-day ninja—travels from Shanghai to Japan to help family friend and former triad enforcer, Lee Chang, locate and rescue his kidnapped twelve-year-old niece while, back home in Los Angeles, her father’s health wanes.

Their mission is aided and complicated by an enigmatic assassin with a discomforting fascination for Lily. When the hunt for the niece leads to another missing relative, the trio of dangerous heroes—ninja, triad, and assassin—are pitted against an even greater foe. Meanwhile, Chang’s family must be moved from the shikumen house in Old Shanghai before the government tears it down. This would be simpler if not for the feud between brothers and the old resentments and intrigues entwined with the stunning history of the city itself.

Lily is pushed to her limits as she faces potentially insurmountable odds and worries about her father’s undiagnosed disease. At the same time, she is shocked by the true identity of her ninja teacher—known only Sensei—and the truth behind why he left Japan. THE NINJA’S OATH is the thrilling new novel in Tori Eldridge’s acclaimed, multi-award nominated Lily Wong series, sure to leave readers breathing and riveted until the last page is turned!

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Tori Eldridge is the bestselling author of the Lily Wong mystery thriller series, nominated for the Anthony, Lefty and Macavity Awards and winner of the 2021 Crimson Scribe Award for Best Book of the Year. Tori’s Brazilian dark fantasy thriller, Dance Among the Flames, was inspired by her Academy Nicholl Fellowship semi-finalist screenplay. Her shorter works appear in numerous anthologies, including Crime Hits Home and the inaugural reboot of Weird Tales Magazine. Before writing, Tori performed as an actress, singer, dancer on Broadway, television, film. She holds a fifth-degree black belt in To-Shin Do and has traveled the U.S. teaching the ninja martial arts. Born and raised in Honolulu—of Hawaiian, Chinese, Norwegian descent—Tori has visited nine countries, including Brazil, China, and Japan. Learn more about her at www.torieldridge.com. 

Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing