Susan Abraham - Malaysia

Malaysian novelist Tan Twan Eng's 2nd novel, The Garden of Evening Mists, out on 2 November

Caption: A lively green for the cover design may yet prove an eye-catcher!

I'm pretty much delighted to read that Malaysian novelist, Tan Twan Eng, once longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2007 for his first novel, The Gift of Rain, is to have a second one titled The Garden of Evening Mists, out in London on 2 November.

I gather from past observations, that this would mean simultanous distribution in several other countries as well. Like the first novel, the second hardback priced at £18.99 (ISBN: 978-1-905802-04-3) and export paperback, would also be published by independent publisher,Myrmidon Books.

I'm personally excited about the second book but then I normally am about any other novel that would herald the presence of contemporary Malaysian novelists in Britain today. In recent years, we have enjoyed a cheerful number starting with Rani Manicka and this followed by Tash Aw, a little later, Tan and Preeta Samarasan and more recently Shamini Flint and Chiew-Siah Tei.

I am careful to mention the writers who stay the big names and with the exception of Flint at the last count; those who enjoy agented representation, are still in print with mainstream publishing houses and receive absolutely fantastic world distribution.

I believe there is another Malaysian writer in Britain to come; Ivy Ngeow, who was once published by Silverfish (Malaysia) and who won an international literary prize at Middlesex University in 2005, is currently agented but not yet published.

The Gift of Rain received worldwide critical acclaim. During my travels, I remember seeing Tan's novel being displayed for sale in unlikely regions and of course, at several airports while in transit.

Then, Tan had turned his pen to setting his plot in 1939 Penang, thus, etching his story deep into the complexities of an intense Malayan history that occured three years before the rampage and subsequent occupation of the Japanese in World War 2. Tan's storyline later moved beyond.

In the modern tale, an obvious exotic imagery crowns an almost mythical narration on the pain secured from an engagement of risky loyalties and the measured artistry of an opulent indulgence with *aikido, a Japanese culture relying on the searching rules of a life energy, and for which I've often read that Tan is himself famed.

The Garden of Evening Mists returns to a Malaya now 10 years later, in 1949.

In a new plot that bears no relation to the first one, Yun Ling Teoh, a traumatised and solitary survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, still seeks solace from the Northern Malayan jungles close to where she grew up. Thankfully, she hasn't done too badly. With a law degree from Cambridge, she spends her time helping to prosecute Japanese war criminals.

In the midst of her trying time, she stumbles upon Yugiri, a single Japanese garden in Malaya created and owned by Aritomo, an exile and a former gardener to Japan's Emperor. Much as Yun Ling deplores the Japanese people, she feels compelled to request that Aritomo builds her a garden in Kuala Lumpur, in memory of a sister who perished in the prison camp. After an initial refusal, Aritomo eventually agrees with Teoh as his apprentice for a temporal season until the monsoon arrives.

The plot promises to widen and entice its reader with its entrance into the fringes of human intimacy and stirs up strong hints of unanswered questions There are dark secrets wound around the day-to-day realities. All the while, threats of murders and kidnappings from jungle guerrillas, stay one of these.

Why do I feel from just embarking on the summary alone, that here stands a plot, screaming to be turned into an intriguing film...

Tan Twan Eng who lives in Cape Town, South Africa and is now working on his third novel has always provided for high inspirations with regards to an admirable disciplined focus in his attitude towards the subject of novel-writing in general. He is not visible on the virtual networking scene but keeps his presence as a writer vibrant, with consistent appearances at international writing festivals. - susan abraham

*Aikido - Its detailed definition of a Japanese martial art resting on the philosophies of Morihei Ueshiba, may be found HERE.

Haji's Book of Malayan Nursery Rhymes by A.W. Hamilton

 

About my Find

Not too long ago when I stopped in Kuala Lumpur and visited the splendid Kinokuniya Bookstore, this quaint treasure of a children's poetry book, beckoned to me shyly, from a locked glass showcase. There it waited...a handsome Malaysian antiquarian item... regally poised in all of its ancient glory. The beautifully preserved second-hand edition titled Haji's Book of Malayan Nursery Rhymes, stood silently with several other sterner out-of-print hardback editions; all determined to feature tales and essays of an older Malaya, still laden with her sharp aristocratic flavour. Never you mind that in the same fashion which may have just as well befitted a toffee-nosed mannequin marvellously holding every strand in place, neither too would any page or content be held amiss.

With a gasp, I was thrown from adulthood into the enthrallment of a child's simple joys, than apparent in Klang town's famous Caxton Bookshop on Rembau Street. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the groundfloor that made for a row of rambling old shophouses, ran riot with jigsaw puzzles and picture books.

My thoughts fell instantly into a cache of abundant memories, so gracefully matched with the wonder of the moment.

I felt ironically blessed for a birthday that had now stumbled into the late summer of my life. While happily encased in the present New Age digital world, I had once tasted the fading influences of British colonalism in the Far East, also. This, not to be imagined from novels but the real thing. How richly then had the literary influences of England been stirred into a potpourri of multicultural Malay, Chinese, Indian, Sikh and Eurasian communities with nary a complication, at least not that was offered to a child's visible notions. This of course, combined with varied enchanting storytelling elements that each culture so liberally allowed for its leisurely moments.

Without hesitation, I purchased the only edition that appeared to be present.

It set me back RM690 (about 150 euros). Of course, there were vital reasons for this. Book-collecting of somewhat rare and personal gems had turned into a passionate hobby and here was an opportunity too good to miss. Besides, I was seduced by the vault of memories that had so quickly engulfed me...that familar seduction of late, that demanded I write a novel on my childhood.

Caption: A little Malay girl in her sandals, stares anxiously at the heavy pelts of tropical rain being blown about by the wind while being kept dry by a hardy umbrella.

 

About the Author

Sadly, I know scant about A.W. Hamilton although I did receive a strong impression of his dedication to the Malay Language and I am familiar with his selection of pantuns. The trouble is as children we recite the poems, ballads, tales and songs with whoops of relish and later, mentally store away renditions with an equal fervour, but at such a tender age, spare little thought for the person who wrote them. Among a few of his works, I would discover Hamilton's Malay Pantuns, Malay Proverbs - Bidal Melayu and Malay Made Easy - Covering the Dutch East Indies and Malaya.

 

About the Book

Mine's a densely speckled and yellowed version of a 1956 reprint, published by the then Donald Moore Ltd, at MacDonald House on Orchard Road, Singapore. Haji's Book of Malayan Nursery Rhymes had been treated to its first publication in 1939, three years before the start of the Japanese Occupation as a result of World War II, in the Malayan Peninsular, Borneo and Singapore. The second reprint would be later published in Australia in 1947. I get the clear impression before feeling subsequently thrilled that the copy now lining my library shelf, had surely passed through several appreciative hands once upon a time, in the forgotten past.

What I found fascinating was Hamilton's Preface. He wrote that some of the Malayan Nursery Rhymes received their original publication as early as 1922 in pamphlet form, at the time of the Malaya-Borneo exhibition. They were then reprinted the following year, by the Methodist Publishing House in Singapore where the local poems were issued with both cardboard covers and illustrations, as an added attraction.

In his Preface, Hamilton also wrote most humbly that he considered the Malayan poems he so ably translated from a numerous collection of popular English rhymes, to be recognised as a product of Malaya and that he would take no credit for his industry. He dedicated the verses and what may even be viewed as limericks... solely for the indulgence of the little folk.

Caption: In a kampung, an old crooked man labelled as 'orang bongkok' takes a slow stroll to his attap home, held deftly by stilts. Next to his hut, lies a coconut tree.

Here are a few examples:

Georgie Porgie

Georgie Porgie, pudding and pie, Kissed the girls and made them cry; When the girls came out to play, Georgie Porgie ran away.

Now, the old Malay version would read:

Awang Bawang

Awang Bawang, kachang kobis, Chium anak dara, nangis; Bila kawan keluar chari, Awang Bawang sudah lari.

- Excerpt taken from Haji's Book of Malayan Nursery Rhymes.

and for another example,

Hey, Diddle Diddle

Hey! Diddle, diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon; The little dog laughed To see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon.

Here, the Malay version would read:

Kuching Dengan Biola

Hai! mula-mula, Kuching dengan biola; Lembu melompat ka-bulan. Anak anjing ketawa, Suka tengok melawak, Dan sendok di-larikan pinggan.

- Excerpt taken from Haji's Book of Malayan Nursery Rhymes

The book still slightly frail in my hands, is made up of about a 100 pages of a commendable compilation of English rhymes. These are followed simulatenously by translations; each rhyme pairing up with a Malay version, featuring the older Malay vocabulary and spelling. Now, I was familiar with these as we still studied the older version for a while in the classroom, before an overhaul of the language took place a little later.

Several of the couplets are rather short, resulting in quite a few poems scattered together on a solitary page. The book ends with an added seven pages, featuring nothing but a heavy glossary of English-Malay definitions, giving me another distinct impression of how thorough a writer A.W. Hamilton was and of how much pride he placed  in his work.

 

 

About the Illustrations

I was really bowled over by the illustrations and I have placed a few here in this post.

In his Introduction, Hamilton also took time out to thank Mrs Nora Hamerton, who I gather was already a well-known illustrator in Malaya, during the time. She is mentioned a few times on the web and I was delighted to read that Badan Warisan Malaysia, had described Hamerton's early illustrations as a fine piece of work. I wish more accolades had been awarded her and that there would have been an appropriate biographical detail to her artwork, that would have been easily accessible.

Perhaps not even that, but just merely for Nora Hamerton to have been better celebrated for her artistry and talent. I also observed that Hamerton had worked with Hamilton on other childrens' books too. Once more, the poet and translator mentioned in his Preface that Nora Hamerton had resided in Kapar, Selangor. That drew this book really close to home for me. Although the thoughtful artist graced my patch many many years before I was born, my eyes still shone with excitement to read that the illustrator had lived on the fringes of Klang, where I myself had been raised in the Sixties.

I was tickled by some of the illustrations especially that of an old Tamilian lady who wore her saree with no blouse under the wrap. I remembered with a start that as a little girl, I often saw older ladies like these sauntering on the roadside, where they lived in nearby squatters made up of  attap houses or trooped down into town, from the neighbouring palm oil estates. The memory was especially distinct as I remember the sarees in rainbow hues as was the fashion during the time ie. an electrifying pink, a lime green or sky blue etc. Without a doubt, some of the toothless wizened women attracted public attention but seemed oblivious of it. The illustrations envelop all the races and I was touched to see also, a Nyonya mother and her child in their costumed regalia.

What a tender journey into the past from a little book festooned with nostalgic literary delights, still young to the mind after the twilight toil of long and winding roads. - susan abraham 

Caption: A merry band of children link hands and dance round a banana tree while singing a Malay rendition of 'Round the Mulberry Bush'

Further Reading:

i) For further reading, you may like to engage in the following essay, published in a French journal and titled: The Poetics of the Pantun. ii) A collection of definitions affliated to the Pantun in English may also be found HERE.

 

Re-issued edition of The Rice Mother by Rani Manicka (UK, 2010)

by Susan Abraham

Dublin May 21, 2010: Here is a re-issued edition of Malaysian novelist, *Rani Manicka's first novel, The Rice Mother, originally published by Sceptre London in September 2002.

The chunky poignant novel, pictured here, has recently been published once again by Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. London and released simultaneously with Manicka's latest saga effort, The Japanese Lover.  Both currently stand side by side in the shops and are being pushed for a reader's attention in a case of Happy Families, together with Sarita Mandanna's Tiger Hills, another alluring novel, banking its seductive attempts  on the coffee plantations of Coorg in South India.

I must admit with a half-smile, that the titles do look rather agreeable and make for jolly company while dressed in party colours, on the display shelves.

The new version of The Rice Mother also holds a first chapter extract to  The Japanese Lover.

Here at the moment is my own scanned picture. I certainly enjoy the vibrant splash of colour, which stays loyal to the plot... one that features a determined Ceylonese matriach,  in Malaya during the Second World War. Its protagonist, Lakshmi is reputed for weathering  tragedy with all  the ferociousness of a typhooned boulder.

Indeed, it was a wise idea to remind readers of Rani Manicka's presence in the fiction-writing world once more after a good seven years.  There's no denying that The Rice Mother has always been fondly remembered, still continues to make its vigorous rounds on the web worldwide and can to the present day, be found in the tidy alphabetical arrangement and not the bargain-basement section of a good bookshop's walled fiction collection.

Manicka's second novel, Touching Earth did not produce the same excitable clamour.  It is anyone's guess if The Japanese Lover will take off. Saying this, the sensuous tale is a commendable exercise , experimenting in the throes of an extraordinary heartbreak  and I would vote in its favour.

It's a complex publishing industry these days and Manicka's continued absence from internet interaction may tell eventually on awareness and sales. The majority of authors now plump for their books either in a somewhat mild-mannered fashion or proferring otherwise to bold exclamations, on the web.  The publicity starts a few months before  a title's release.  Blog interviews and virtual book tours may be eagerly sought and the odd hopeful review, uncovered.   I am reminded of Tash Aw another popular Malaysian novelist in London, who while proclaiming  a dislike for the internet, still owns a website.  A registered digital presence is no longer an option, but a necessity.

I also feel that The Japanese Lover with regards to a theme , characterization and  plot - be warned that this is anything but straightforward -is slightly weaker than The Rice Mother.  The former features grand designs for introspection and may be perceived by some, as overly-ambitious. Over the years, Manicka's writing techniques have improved sharply and today, her style is far more lucid.  I must add that the structure to the complicated Japanese Lover is superb.  Still, in her career as  novelist, Manicka runs the risk of being recognised in her full  element pertaining to a novel's voice; as writing in the first person, and not otherwise.  The Rice Mother and not The Japanese Lover, is narrated with vivid clarity in the first person.

At the moment, both titles hold delicious bewitching covers, designed to  tempt the book-buyer's curiosity in more ways than one.  The Rice Mother and The Japanese Lover have also earned themselves terrific display sections in the big Dublin bookshops.

*********

*Rani Manicka is believed to be the first novelist in the Far East to produce sagas internationally, featuring the said region.

 

 

 

 

An Interview with Novelist Amanda Sington-Williams

by Susan Abraham

  

The novelist, poet and short story writer, Amanda Sington-Williams, will have her debut novel, The Eloquence of Desire, released in the UK on June 14 by Sparkling Books.

The exotic romance with its set of English characters, features a setting in 1950's Colonial Malaysia in the distant Far East, otherwise known  as 'the tropics'.  

 

  

An Interview: 

 

You once mentioned in an interview that books and films from the 1950s period greatly influenced the Malaysian setting for your novel. Can you tell us more?

"I read Graham Greene from a very early age and books like The Quiet American and The End of the Affair, gave me an insight into the rules of social behavior during the 1950s which hold a fascination for me. Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck and Daphne Du Maurier, were amongst other writers which I read. 

"Although slightly earlier than 1950, I think the film which stayed with me is Brief Encounter but films like Rebel Without a Cause, also had a great impact on me."

 

Do name a few of your favourite memories of Malaysia.

"I really like the mix of different cultures and religions. On the surface, everyone appears to get on really well, though of course I don't know if the reality is different. But everyone is really friendly and will go out of their way to help.

"There is such a variety of landscape in Malaysia from the tea plantations of the Cameron Mountains to the jungles of Sabah, and the food is tasty. I also recall an impressive tropical storm and fantastic sunsets. I remember one sunset, when everyone, tourists and locals, crowded on a beach and watched the sky change from blue to pink/red to gold."

What is the one endearing thing you remember about your grandmother?

"She was a very genteel woman who used to sing when she was in the kitchen. She got malaria in Malaysia and I believe this affected her heart. So every afternoon she would, clutching a hot water bottle, trot up to bed for two hours."

  

What is the one endearing thing you remember about your grandfather?

 "He died when I was ten, so I don't remember much about him. But I have a clear memory of him sitting in a fold-up chair by Lake Crummock in the Lake District with a big smile of contentment, while he puffed on his pipe. It was a huge family holiday and he was surrounded by family. I must have been about nine."

 

 

Would you visit Malaysia again?

"There is still so much I haven't seen. Maybe I'll go back next year. 

What is it in particular about Malaysia that fascinates you?

"The mix of people with so many different cultures and religions, in a relatively small geographical area."

 

Which regions would you like to look up?

"I'd like to go to Malacca, Port Dickson and the east coast.  And I love visiting temples and mosques."

Which turned up as your favourite character in The Eloquence of Desire and why?

"I have a soft spot for George because of his enduring love for Emma."

Did writing your novel bring out the best of your creative nature?

"I think writing any novel or short story brings out the best in me as a creative artist."

Did your characters offer a satisfying thrill in having observed their eventual development?

"Yes. I don't think I would want to write if the development of my characters didn't excite me especially as very  often I don't always know what they are going to do. I think it is the not-knowing that keeps me writing."

 

 

How did you happen upon the plot?

"That is a very hard question to answer as I would say that the characters happened upon the plot. But I wrote a short story called The Carving which was set in Malaysia and was shortlisted for the Asham Award. The Eloquence of Desire grew from this short story."

Do these characters still live with you or have you let them go?

"The characters will always be with me, but they take second place to the ones I'm writing now."

 

How did you get on with research for The Eloquence of Desire?

"I used my grandparents' photographs. I visited the British Library and used the Library at Sussex University.  I re-read Somerset Maugham's short stories set in Malaysia as well as other novels set in South-East Asia. I re-read a project I'd written when I was studying for a Diploma in Health and Social Welfare on women who self-harm.

"I listened to 1950s music. I asked my mother and aunt to recall their time in Colonial Malaya and I used a report on The Emergency, written by Derrick Sington (a cousin) when he worked as a journalist for The Manchester Guardian.

"There was  a more than this - too much to list. But I really like undertaking research, and apart from making my work more accurate and believable, I learn a lot, even if I don't use all of the research in the novel I'm working on."

How did you get on with the writing process?

"It took me two years to write The Eloquence of Desire.  Countless drafts and re-writing.  I deleted the first 17,000 words I wrote, and started again at another point in the narrative. I am quite brutal with my writing because I want to get it right."

 

Do tell us a little about your writing life.

"I like to write new work in the mornings.  I always switch the Broadband Connection off when I write. On the wall opposite my desk, there is a Salvadore Dali print of  a 'Woman at Window' and to my left, I can look out on our garden where I'll look when I'm thinking.

"Behind me, is an overflowing book shelf. Editing is reserved for the afternoons.  But if I'm away from home, I use my laptop anywhere. Strangely, I don't need quiet, just no interruptions."

 

How did you happen upon a publisher?

"I am a member of New Writing South and an article about Sparkling Books that appeared in The Bookseller, was posted on one of their weekly newsletters."

 

What is the one thing you hope readers would take out of your novel?

"That they don't want my narrative to finish and that my characters live on when they come to the end of the book."

 

Could you tell us a little about your second novel?

"It is a contemporary novel, set in the UK and Ethopia.  The main characters are a newly-arrived Ethopian refugee, Solomon, his sister, Hana, an agony aunt, Marianne, and one of her problem page readers, Charlotte."

 

Do you nurse an ambition to write a special story, not yet written but one  that you would like to attempt?"

"I've been thinking about my third novel which has been on my mind for a while. A story which touches on the psyche on sibling jealousy and its repercussions on other people's lives."

What are you currently reading?

"The Book Thief by Markus Zusak."

What images does an exotic foreign land, conjure up for you?

"I love the smell of the tropics, that wall of humidity that hits, as soon as you step out of the plane.  The bright colours, noise and the general chaos so absent from Western cultures."

Are there a few famous historical explorers and adventurers who travelled to foreign lands which you admire, and if so, who would these be?

"Ernest Shackleton 1874-1922, the Antartic explorer because I'm amazed that he wanted to explore a part of the world that is so very cold and inhospitable.  Captain James Cook 1728-1779 because he seemed to have an inate desire, to find out what lay beyond.

Amanda Sington-William's The Eloquence of Desire will be published in Hardback  (£14.99) by Sparkling Books UK on 14th June, 2010. ISBN. 978-1-907230-11-0.

Further Reading:

 Other related articles on this blog: A Few Thoughts from Amanda Sington-Williams & The Eloquence of Desire by Amanda Sington-Williams.

Sweet Offerings, a first novel by Chan Ling Yap, Malaysian Fiction in the UK

 

 

by Susan Abraham

 

As a fellow Malaysian writer in Ireland, I was thrilled to discover on the web - and only just - that former Malaysian lecturer at the University of Malaya Chan Ling Yap who later became a food specialist in Rome and is now resident in England, has published her first work of fiction called Sweet Offerings (ISBN  978-1906710989  £8.99)  by Pen Press Partnership Publishing UK.

Better still, Chan's debut novel is featured at this year's London Book Fair.

Below is a short synopsis of the historical work of fiction, aptly described by Pen Press which offers a complete publishing service at their offices in Brighton. As a commissioned publishing service, Chan couldn't be in better hands:

 

Set in the late 1930s and 1960s, this is the tale of Mei Yin, a young Chinese girl from an impoverished family. Her destiny is shaped when she is sent to Kuala Lumpar to become the ward and companion of the tyrannical and bitter Su Hei who is looking for a suitable wife for her son Ming Kong... and ultimately a grandson and heir to the family dynasty.

"Sweet Offerings" is not just a fictional story of the events that ripped one family apart, but a taste of Malaysia's historical political and cultural changes during its transition from colonial rule to independence and beyond.

On her website, Chan explains that the title of her novel was taken from the dish lin qi kung meaning a light syrup with lotus seeds and too, a fruit longan with which to sweeten, soothe and balance the yin and yang (energy harmony) of the body. Chan goes on to describe the priceless value of a traditional tea  infused and sweeten with the same ingredients so as to subdue suffering or bitterness.

Chan Ling Yap is holder of a PhD in Economics. She worked at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome for 19 years. In the past, Chan has also written technical books, academic and professional papers. Sweet Offerings is her first work of fiction.

The rose-coloured porcelain bowl on the book cover triggers tender memories of open air coffeeshops in Malaysia - famous roadside stalls - with aromas of curries, soups and fried noodles wafting about while noisy patrons sat  on wooden stools, eager  to dive into those tasty dishes with their clicking chopsticks.  Porcelain bowls, plates and spoons claimed a special novelty all their own before plastic cutlery was later introduced.

My hunch at first glance is that Chan's story will stay nothing short of alluring.

Read some flattering Amazon reviews Here.

Catch a few paragraphs of Sweet Offering Here.

A Few Thoughts from Amanda Sington-Williams

by Susan Abraham

Well...I flew into Singapore early this morning and will fly out once more tonight as I leave this weekend for Australia. To follow those famous lyrics from Leaving on a Jetplane, it's a case of 'All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go..."

I'm off to explore Arab & Bagdad Streets and Singapore's Chinatown for the moment. I am engulfed now only with vague memories at the most of these particular locations; it's been a few good years and way too long for Singapore to once more reach out her hand to me, while armed with her breathy hint of seduction for an assortment of quaint nooks and alleys, not often seen to the eye.

However, I have heard from Amanda Sington-Williams (pictured here) this morning - she authors an exciting historical novel, The Eloquence of Desire - so will not go off without leaving you a few poignant thoughts on how she views her new book to be published shortly by Sparkling Books in the UK. Her romantic plot focusses on a slice of old Malaya and you may read much more from my first blog post on the subject over Here. - susan abraham

 

Below, Amanda Sington-Williams (AMS) explains why she set The Eloquence of Desire in old Malaysia.

"Before I embarked on my novel, I wrote a short story called ‘The Carving’ which was set in Malaysia during the 1930s. This was shortlisted for The Asham Award and I thought I would take the three central characters and transform them into a novel. But I decided to move them on a bit time-wise as I’ve always had a fascination for the 1950s, the fashions and how the nuclear family were presented as perfect, how any flaws were concealed during that period. Books and films set during that period also influenced my decision to set it then. Also I wanted to set the novel before independence but during the Emergency which lasted twelve years." - AMS

...and on her connections with Malaysia...

"My grandparents lived in Malaysia for twenty two years and my mother and aunt both spent their childhoods there. I grew up with anecdotes of life there and I’ve spent long periods of time in Malaysia. This was a huge influence on my decision to set the novel there. I found old family photographs of my grandparent’s colonial house as well as pictures of the landscape and I was able to see the clothes people wore. My characters live in the houses that my family occupied, though my imagination played a large part too. When I was researching for the novel I came across a journal that a relative called Derrick Sington had written when he was a foreign correspondent for The Manchester Guardian in 1955. It had lots of information about the Emergency and that settled the date in which to set the novel – 1955, the year before independence." - AMS

Amanda’s book, The Eloquence of Desire will be published by Sparkling Books on June 14th 2010.

For more information on Amanda Sington-Williams, you may click on her Website. For added information on The Eloquence of Desire, you may click on Sparkling Books.

(This post was originally slotted into an older Wordpress blog on February 26th, 2010.)

 

The Eloquence of Desire by Amanda Sington-Williams

by Susan Abraham

Forthcoming Fiction on Old Malaya

Where internationally-published fiction on Malaysia is concerned in these coming months, the world can expect to be treated first of all to Malaysian award-winning novelist Rani Manicka's historical novel called The Japanese Lover - please do see my earlier post here slated to be released in London on May 13, 2010.

Then readers if you love a touch of literary flair that so kindly befits the Far East, do mark your bookshop or Amazon browse dates again because I have just stumbled onto the nicest surprise. The British novelist, poet and short story writer Amanda Sington-Williams is to have her novel, set in 1950's colonial Malaysia, published a month later on June 14, in London by Sparkling Books.

The Eloquence of Desire is based largely on the story of a scandalous Englishman George who is packed off to the tropics as penance for adultery. He arrives with his reluctant wife Dorothy while his daughter Susan, is dismissed to boarding school. A host of complicated relationships accompanied by clandestine visits are wound into the more painful reality of Malaya's Communist Insurgency. The synopsis warns that George subsequently takes on a lover, Dorothy turns a hermit and Susan resorts to self-harm. For some reason that exudes the plot's flavour and atmosphere, I'm recalling smouldering dinner jacket scenes and that, often moulded into tragic encounters, from 1972's The Whiteoaks of Jalna.

Brighton resident Williams has travelled the world and worked in a variety of interesting occupations. Her personality appears to soar off her website with an irrepressible vibrance and her rich portfolio of writings are clearly eclectic.

(This post was originally slotted into an older Wordpress blog on 6th February, 2010.)

The Japanese Lover by Rani Manicka

by Susan Abraham

Malaysia's first internationally-acclaimed novelist, Rani Manicka who authored the highly-successful The Rice Mother in London in September 2002, comes out with her third hardback (£17.99)/paperback (£12.99) in the UK on May 13, 2010, called The Japanese Lover and to be published by Hodder & Stoughton (ISBN: 1444700316).

The story will once more detail a romantic family history based on the lives of a Sri Lankan family in old war-torn Malaya, that matches closely with a loose theme bearing on her famous saga of the past.

The cover art is not yet available. The photograph above belongs to my personal records.

Further Reading: Vaani, the voice of Asian Women Writers.

The book cover design was slotted into this post on February 27, 2010 while still on Wordpress.