For ages, Philip Chew’s great-grandfather hung as a cold portrait above the ancestor worship altar in the house he grew up in. Philip would watch his elders offer prayers to this stranger: Chew Joo Chiat. One day, jolted by errors of fact about his great-grandfather in a newspaper article, Philip embarked on an arduous journey recovering the life of Chew Joo Chiat from rags to riches, unearthing lost relations and strengthening the bonds of the Chew family. This culminated in his book, A Penniless Boy, Chew Joo Chiat.

At the launch of this book, find out what’s it like to trace one’s family history, to search for the grave of an ancestor in the abyss of Bukit Brown and to pass on your own family stories.