Second Chinese Daughter delves into the evolving status and roles of women in society as depicted through the experiences of three generations of women in a Chinese family in Penang. Feng, the second daughter in a family of seven siblings, grapples with her lowly hierarchical position in her family and society. Set between the 1930s and '60s, against a backdrop of significant historical events and everyday life in Malaya during that period, this novel follows young Feng's struggle to gain her mother's love and an equitable position among her older siblings and in her community.

The narrative traces some of the Chinese customs and practices at the time that reflect society's base view of women, and the lack of acceptance of their identities. Through the eyes of her grandmother and her mother, Feng sees the all-too-slow change in women's place in society, and endeavours to break away from the constricting world of her female ancestors to find a better place for herself.

Shirley Fung, born Ong Aing Hon, is a Penang-born Australian Chinese. She was awarded a Colombo Plan Scholarship to study at Monash University, Melbourne, in 1967, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and a Diploma of Education. She later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts at Deakin University and she has worked as a science educator and later as the Director of Curriculum at Mount Scopus Memorial College, Melbourne. She has had eight books on biology and environmental science published previously by Longman Cheshire, and also wrote for the "Sun Study" page of the 'Herald Sun' newspaper from 1981 to 1986. This is her first novel.