This story does not begin on a boat. Nor does it contain any wild swans or falling leaves.

In a wonderland called Footscray, a girl named Alice and her Chinese-Cambodian family pursue the Australian Dream – Asian style. Armed with an ocker accent, Alice dives head- first into schooling, romance and the getting of wisdom. Her mother becomes an Aussie battler – an outworker, that is. Her father embraces the miracle of franchising and opens an electrical-appliance store. And every day her grandmother blesses Father Government for giving old people money.

Unpolished Gem is a book rich in comedy, a loving and irreverent portrait of a family, its everyday struggles and bittersweet triumphs. With it, Australian writing gains an unforgettable new voice.

Alice Pung is an award-winning writer based in Melbourne. She is the bestselling author of the memoirs Unpolished Gem and Her Father’s Daughter, and the essay collection Close to Home, as well as the editor of the anthologies Growing Up Asian in Australia and My First Lesson. Her first novel, Laurinda, won the Ethel Turner Prize at the 2016 NSW Premier’s Literary Awards. One Hundred Days is her most recent novel.

Winner of the Australian Newcomer of the Year in the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards

Shortlisted in the 2007 Australian Book Industry Awards, the 2007 NSW Premier's Literary Awards, the 2007 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards, the 2007 Age Book of the Year Awards, the 2006 Colin Roderick Award, and the 2007 The Westfield/Waverley Library Award for Literature.

‘Unpolished Gem is a delightful read – a funny, touching debut from a writer we’re sure to hear more from.’ —Courier Mail

‘... offer(s) a rare bicultural vantage point on Australian multiculturalism’ —Sydney Morning Herald

‘There’s something striking on every page of Unpolished Gem.’ —Helen Garner

‘A memoir so vivid that images from it linger behind your eyelids.’ —The Age

‘Alice Pung is a gem. Her voice is the real thing.’ —Amy Tan

‘Unpolished Gem is virtuoso storytelling.’ —The Australian

‘... intelligent and touching’ —The Herald Sun