SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2012. Malaya, 1949. After studying law at Cambrige and time spent helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals, Yun Ling Teoh seeks solace among the jungle fringed plantations of Northern Malaya where she grew up as a child.

An epic set in Malaya predominantly during the time of the Japanese invasion. It tells how an Anglo-Chinese youth, Philip Hutton, struggles to protect his family as the Imperial Japanese war machine crushes the vestiges of British rule in Penang.