The Moon Princess

Book excerpt: Narrated by the eldest daughter of Sa Shwe Thaike, the Prince of Yawnghwe, The Moon Princess recounts both the story of her early life and at the same time provides a fascinating memoir of her father who, in 1948, became President of the Union of Burma after Burma gained its independence. She describes growing up in the Shan States and records the changes that occurred during the periods of British colonial rule, war and Japanese occupation, the return of the British administration, the troubled years after Burmas independence and, finally, the military takeover in 1962. It is a personal account of a family caught up in political turmoil which led to the loss of a brother and a father, the first during the coup and the latter, in military custody. The Moon Princess is an important record of a tumultuous period in the history of a troubled country. It includes appendices of important political documents relating to the Shan states and tables of the ruling princes and family trees.