Download or read book The Garden of Evening Mists written by Tan Twan Eng and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2012-09-04 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This “elegant and haunting novel of war, art and memory" (The Independent) award-winning novel from the acclaimed author of The Gift of Rain follows the only Malaysian survivor of a Japanese wartime camp as she begins working for an exiled former gardener of the Emporer. Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice "until the monsoon comes." Then she can design a garden for herself. As the months pass, Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to the gardener and his art, while all around them a communist guerilla war rages. But the Garden of Evening Mists remains a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo and how did he come to leave Japan? And is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war perhaps the darkest secret of all?
Download or read book The Gift of Rain written by Tan Twan Eng and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2009-05-05 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the tradition of celebrated wartime storytellers Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene, Tan Twan Eng's debut novel casts a powerful spell. The recipient of extraordinary acclaim from critics and the bookselling community, Tan Twan Eng's debut novel casts a powerful spell and has garnered comparisons to celebrated wartime storytellers Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene. Set during the tumult of World War II, on the lush Malayan island of Penang, The Gift of Rain tells a riveting and poignant tale about a young man caught in the tangle of wartime loyalties and deceits. In 1939, sixteen-year-old Philip Hutton-the half-Chinese, half-English youngest child of the head of one of Penang's great trading families-feels alienated from both the Chinese and British communities. He at last discovers a sense of belonging in his unexpected friendship with Hayato Endo, a Japanese diplomat. Philip proudly shows his new friend around his adored island, and in return Endo teaches him about Japanese language and culture and trains him in the art and discipline of aikido. But such knowledge comes at a terrible price. When the Japanese savagely invade Malaya, Philip realizes that his mentor and sensei-to whom he owes absolute loyalty-is a Japanese spy. Young Philip has been an unwitting traitor, and must now work in secret to save as many lives as possible, even as his own family is brought to its knees.
Download or read book The Casuarina Tree written by W. Somerset Maugham and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2022-01-01 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of six stories—including the acclaimed “The Outstation”—by the renowned twentieth-century author of the classic Of Human Bondage. Set in the Federated Malay States during the 1920s, these stories portray the lives of the English living abroad and the clashes that occur with the native Malaysians—and among themselves. In “Before the Party,” a widow who lies about the cause of her husband’s death in Borneo is confronted by her family and blithely reveals the truth of his untimely death. “P. & O.” follows a woman sailing home to England to seek a divorce; struggling with fears of aging and loneliness, she finds a way to be at peace with herself after a fellow passenger succumbs to a mysterious illness. Though in Borneo for decades, a British Resident Officer holds tightly to English customs and traditions, but his snobbery and classism come under attack when he is saddled with a boorish new assistant in “The Outstation.” In “The Force of Circumstance,” the new marriage of a British official and his wife reaches a breaking point when she learns of his not-so-secret past in Sembulu. “The Yellow Streak” follows two British men who are swept away by a tidal bore on a river in Borneo; though they both survive, one is nearly driven to madness by his suspicions that his companion knows he left him to drown. “The Letter” opens in Singapore with a British woman accused of murder in an act of self-defense; when evidence comes to light that proves she is lying, her lawyer and her husband must face their convictions—and the woman they thought they knew . . .
Download or read book The Samurai s Garden written by Gail Tsukiyama and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2008-06-24 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The daughter of a Chinese mother and a Japanese father, Gail Tsukiyama's The Samurai's Garden uses the Japanese invasion of China during the late 1930s as a somber backdrop for this extraordinary story. A 20-year-old Chinese painter named Stephen is sent to his family's summer home in a Japanese coastal village to recover from a bout with tuberculosis. Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight. Matsu is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world, and Stephen is a noble student, learning to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way of life and to love Matsu's soulmate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy.
Download or read book Japanese Imperialism in Contemporary English Fiction written by Ching-chih Wang and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-11-02 with total page 91 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book considers literary images of Japan created by David Mitchell, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Tan Twan Eng to examine the influence of Japanese imperialism and its legacy at a time when culture was appropriated as route to governmentality and violence justified as root to peace. Using David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, Tan Twang Eng’s The Garden of the Evening Mists and Kazuo Ishiguro’s work to examine Japanese militarists’ tactics of usurpation and how Japanese imperialism reached out to the grass-root public and turned into a fundamental belief in colonial invasion and imperial expansion, the book provides an in depth study of trauma, memory and war. From studying the rise of Japanese imperialism to Japan’s legitimization of colonial invasion, in addition to the devastating consequences of imperialism on both the colonizers and the colonized, the book provides a literary, discursive context to re-examine the forces of civilization which will appeal to all those interested in diasporic literature and postcolonial discourse, and the continued relevance of literature in understanding memory, legacy and war.
Download or read book The Trader of Saigon written by Lucy Cruickshanks and published by Heron Books. This book was released on 2013-07-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the chaos and corruption of 1980s' Vietnam, three seemingly unconnected lives are brought together by greed, fear and hope. As a US Army deserter, Alexander is a man without country; trapped in a life he no longer controls and embroiled in the dark business of trading women. His latest victim is Hanh, a rural girl who moved to Hanoi to escape inevitable poverty and who sees Alexander's arrival as the answer to her prayers. Neither of them has ever met Phuc - a Vietnamese businessman who backed the wrong side in the war and is now unable to pay his financial and political debts to the Party. But his struggles are about to change both their lives. From a society torn apart by war comes a tale of redemption and salvation; a thrilling saga and an explosive debut novel.
Download or read book Moon Magic written by Dion Fortune and published by Weiser Books. This book was released on 2003-06-01 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1938 and 1956, neither Sea Priestess nor Moon Magic have been out of print and are enduring favorites among readers of esoteric fiction. 'New packages will update these classic novels and introduce them to a new generation of readers.
Download or read book All for Nothing written by Walter Kempowski and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2018-02-13 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wealthy family tries--and fails--to seal themselves off from the chaos of post-World War II life surrounding them in this stunning novel by one of Germany's most important post-war writers. In East Prussia, January 1945, the German forces are in retreat and the Red Army is approaching. The von Globig family's manor house, the Georgenhof, is falling into disrepair. Auntie runs the estate as best she can since Eberhard von Globig, a special officer in the German army, went to war, leaving behind his beautiful but vague wife, Katharina, and her bookish twelve-year-old son, Peter. As the road fills with Germans fleeing the occupied territories, the Georgenhof begins to receive strange visitors--a Nazi violinist, a dissident painter, a Baltic baron, even a Jewish refugee. Yet in the main, life continues as banal, wondrous, and complicit as ever for the family, until their caution, their hedged bets, and their denial are answered by the wholly expected events they haven't allowed themselves to imagine. All for Nothing, published in 2006, was the last novel by Walter Kempowski, one of postwar Germany's most acclaimed and popular writers.
Download or read book Reading Group Choices written by Reading Group Choices and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil written by John Berendt and published by Random House. This book was released on 1994-01-13 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A modern classic of true crime, set in a most beguiling Southern city—now in a 30th anniversary edition with a new afterword by the author “Elegant and wicked . . . might be the first true-crime book that makes the reader want to book a bed and breakfast for an extended weekend at the scene of the crime.”—The New York Times Book Review Shots rang out in Savannah’s grandest mansion in the misty, early morning hours of May 2, 1981. Was it murder or self-defense? For nearly a decade, the shooting and its aftermath reverberated throughout this hauntingly beautiful city of moss-hung oaks and shaded squares. In this sharply observed, suspenseful, and witty narrative, John Berendt skillfully interweaves a hugely entertaining first-person account of life in this isolated remnant of the Old South with the unpredictable twists and turns of a landmark murder case. It is a spellbinding story peopled by a gallery of remarkable characters: the well-bred society ladies of the Married Woman’s Card Club; the turbulent young gigolo; the hapless recluse who owns a bottle of poison so powerful it could kill every man, woman, and child in Savannah; the aging and profane Southern belle who is the “soul of pampered self-absorption”; the uproariously funny drag queen; the acerbic and arrogant antiques dealer; the sweet-talking, piano-playing con artist; young people dancing the minuet at the black debutante ball; and Minerva, the voodoo priestess who works her magic in the graveyard at midnight. These and other Savannahians act as a Greek chorus, with Berendt revealing the alliances, hostilities, and intrigues that thrive in a town where everyone knows everyone else. Brilliantly conceived and masterfully written, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil is a sublime and seductive reading experience.
Download or read book Postcolonial Nostalgias written by Dennis Walder and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2010-11-17 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers an original and informed critique of a widespread yet often misunderstood condition — nostalgia, a pervasive human emotion connecting people across national and historical as well as personal boundaries. Often seen as merely escapist, nostalgia also offers solace and self-understanding for those displaced by the larger movements of our time. Walder analyses the writings of some of those entangled in the aftermath of empire, tracing the hidden connections underlying their yearnings for a common identity and a homeland, and their struggles to recover their histories. Through a series of comparative reflections upon the representation in literary and related cultural forms of memory, he shows how admitting the past into the present through nostalgia enables former colonial or diasporic subjects to gain a deeper understanding of the networks of power within which they are caught in the modern world — and beyond which it may yet be possible to move. Considering authors as varied as V.S Naipaul, J.G. Ballard, Doris Lessing, W.G. Sebald, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, as well as versions of ‘Bushman’ song, Walder pursues the often wayward, ambiguous paths of nostalgia as it has been represented beyond, but also within, Europe, so as to identify some of those processes of communal and individual experience that constitute the present and, by implication, the future.
Download or read book The Secret Scripture written by Sebastian Barry and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2008-06-12 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An epic story of family, love, and unavoidable tragedy from the two-time Man Booker Prize finalist. Now a major motion picture starring Rooney Mara. Sebastian Barry's latest novel, Days Without End, is now available. Sebastian Barry's novels have been hugely admired by readers and critics, and in 2005 his novel A Long Long Way was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In The Secret Scripture, Barry revisits County Sligo, Ireland, the setting for his previous three books, to tell the unforgettable story of Roseanne McNulty. Once one of the most beguiling women in Sligo, she is now a resident of Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital and nearing her hundredth year. Set against an Ireland besieged by conflict, The Secret Scripture is an engrossing tale of one woman's life, and a poignant story of the cruelties of civil war and corrupted power. The Secret Scripture is now a film starring Rooney Mara, Eric Bana, and Vanessa Redgrave.
Download or read book Good Behaviour written by Molly Keane and published by Virago. This book was released on 2011-08-04 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK (BOOKER PRIZE GEMS) 'Molly Keane is a mistress of wicked comedy' Vogue 'I really wish I had written this book. It's a tragi-comedy set in Ireland after the First World War. A real work of craftsmanship' Hilary Mantel I do know how to behave - believe me, because I know. I have always known . . . Behind the gates of Temple Alice, the aristocratic Anglo-Irish St Charles family sinks into a state of decaying grace. To Aroon St Charles, large and unlovely daughter of the house, the fierce forces of sex, money, jealousy and love seem locked out by the ritual patterns of good behaviour. But crumbling codes of conduct cannot hope to save the members of the St Charles family from their own unruly and inadmissible desires. This elegant and allusive novel established Molly Keane as the natural successor to Jean Rhys. 'I have read and re-read Molly Keane more, I think, than any other writer. Nobody else can touch her as a satirist, tragedian and dissector of human behaviour. I love all her books, but Good Behaviour and Loving and Giving are the ones I return to most' Maggie O'Farrell
Download or read book The Headmaster s Wager written by Vincent Lam and published by Doubleday Canada. This book was released on 2012-04-24 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Giller Prize winner, internationally acclaimed, and bestselling author Vincent Lam comes a superbly crafted, highly suspenseful, and deeply affecting novel set against the turmoil of the Vietnam War. Percival Chen is the headmaster of the most respected English school in Saigon. He is also a bon vivant, a compulsive gambler and an incorrigible womanizer. He is well accustomed to bribing a forever-changing list of government officials in order to maintain the elite status of the Chen Academy. He is fiercely proud of his Chinese heritage, and quick to spot the business opportunities rife in a divided country. He devotedly ignores all news of the fighting that swirls around him, choosing instead to read the faces of his opponents at high-stakes mahjong tables. But when his only son gets in trouble with the Vietnamese authorities, Percival faces the limits of his connections and wealth and is forced to send him away. In the loneliness that follows, Percival finds solace in Jacqueline, a beautiful woman of mixed French and Vietnamese heritage, and Laing Jai, a son born to them on the eve of the Tet offensive. Percival's new-found happiness is precarious, and as the complexities of war encroach further and further into his world, he must confront the tragedy of all he has refused to see. Blessed with intriguingly flawed characters moving through a richly drawn historical and physical landscape, The Headmaster's Wager is a riveting story of love, betrayal and sacrifice.
Download or read book Out Stealing Horses written by Per Petterson and published by Graywolf Press. This book was released on 2012-07-03 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We were going out stealing horses. That was what he said, standing at the door to the cabin where I was spending the summer with my father. I was fifteen. It was 1948 and oneof the first days of July. Trond's friend Jon often appeared at his doorstep with an adventure in mind for the two of them. But this morning was different. What began as a joy ride on "borrowed" horses ends with Jon falling into a strange trance of grief. Trond soon learns what befell Jon earlier that day—an incident that marks the beginning of a series of vital losses for both boys. Set in the easternmost region of Norway, Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson begins with an ending. Sixty-seven-year-old Trond has settled into a rustic cabin in an isolated area to live the rest of his life with a quiet deliberation. A meeting with his only neighbor, however, forces him to reflect on that fateful summer.
Download or read book How We Disappeared written by Jing-Jing Lee and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2019-05-07 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A twenty-first–century twelve-year-old seeks the truth behind his grandmother’s trauma in this moving novel of family, love, memory, and the toll of war. Singapore, 1942. As Japanese troops sweep down Malaysia and into Singapore, a village is ransacked, leaving only two survivors and one tiny child. In a neighboring village, seventeen-year-old Wang Di is strapped into the back of a troop carrier and shipped off to a Japanese military brothel where she is forced into sexual slavery as a “comfort woman.” After sixty years of silence, what she saw and experienced still haunts her. In the year 2000, twelve-year-old Kevin is sitting beside his ailing grandmother when he overhears a mumbled confession. He sets out to discover the truth, wherever it might lead, setting in motion a chain of events he never could have foreseen. Weaving together two timelines and two very big secrets, this stunning debut opens a window on a little-known period of history, revealing the strength and bravery shown by numerous women in the face of terrible cruelty. Drawing in part on her family’s experiences, Jing-Jing Lee has crafted a profoundly moving, unforgettable novel about human resilience, the bonds of family and the courage it takes to confront the past. Perfect for fans of Pachinko and We Were the Lucky Ones. Praise for How We Disappeared A Library Journal Emerging Stars Pick “This is a brilliant, heart-breaking story with an unforgettable image of how women were silenced and disappeared by both war and culture.” —Xinran, author of The Good Women of China “An exquisite mystery, an enthralling novel. Equally touching and intriguing.” —Eoin Dempsey, author of White Rose, Black Forest “A beautifully written, suspenseful story of redemption and healing.” —Booklist, starred review “A . . . story about memory, trauma and ultimately love, How We Disappeared explores the impact of the Japanese invasion of Singapore on the local people, in particular on the hellishly misnamed “Comfort Women.”“ —New York Times
Download or read book An Artist of the Floating World written by Kazuo Ishiguro and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-09-05 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and author of the Booker Prize–winning novel The Remains of the Day In the face of the misery in his homeland, the artist Masuji Ono was unwilling to devote his art solely to the celebration of physical beauty. Instead, he put his work in the service of the imperialist movement that led Japan into World War II. Now, as the mature Ono struggles through the aftermath of that war, his memories of his youth and of the "floating world"—the nocturnal world of pleasure, entertainment, and drink—offer him both escape and redemption, even as they punish him for betraying his early promise. Indicted by society for its defeat and reviled for his past aesthetics, he relives the passage through his personal history that makes him both a hero and a coward but, above all, a human being.
