On a hot August afternoon in 1811, an army of 10,000 British redcoats splashed ashore through the muddy shallows off Batavia (the former name of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital) to conquer the Dutch colony of Java. They would remain there for five turbulent years. Drawing on both British and Javanese archival sources, this entertaining and highly ......
Rainy Day Ramen and the Cosmic Pachinko is told in two distinct, overlapping and interwoven, formats - it describes Fred's drunken, staggering, metaphysical odyssey from Okinawa to Tokyo, and the search for meaning beyond the physical path trodden - and blends Murakami-esque magical realism with a coming-of-age / on-the-road story.
A side effect of Vietnam's stratospheric economic growth has been a burgeoning erotic industry catering to locals and tourists. Author Ewe Paik Leong explores the underbelly of Saigon with side trips to Osaka in Japan and Phuket in Thailand before returning to his hometown of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Julian Lockhardt, the bombastic, heavy-drinking expat manager of the Samarang Hotel - the most prestigious hotel in Vientiane - is short on self-awareness, long on self-pity, and society, so he believes, has failed him. He is easily seduced by Asia's many charms, and deeply resistant to any broader understanding of its underlying values.
Life in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is no party ... or so we thought. In Saudi Arabia Undercover, expat Harper Walsh busts this myth with true stories of homemade alcohol, pill popping, parties staffed by pretty Ethiopian girls in expat gated compounds, smuggled bacon sandwiches and frequent trips over the border into Bahrain for booze and sex.
Adam Milan washes up on the coast of Bali after being forced off a yacht at gunpoint by a psychotic captain. He is taken in by Anak, a Balinese hotel owner and healer. During his recuperation Adam is reported drowned by the media and he sees this as an opportunity for a fresh start in life. Assuming a new identity, Adam takes a job at Anak's hotel ......
Not many British schoolgirls have grown up to become revolutionary heroes of distant, eastern nations but Muriel Stewart Walker did just that. Under a multitude of different names - 'K'tut Tantri' and 'Surabaya Sue' being the best know - she joined in the struggle for Indonesian independence after the Second World War and broadcast its ......
Echoes of footsteps in the hallways make Anna wonder whether rumours of the house being haunted are true. A place with a dark history. Anna bumps into Salimah, and their lives intertwine in unexpected ways. Tensions rise as the houses haunting presence grips both women and threatens to upset an already fragile friendship.
Juggling her job, her family, her friends and worries about her future is keeping Singapore bookshop assistant Mei busy but when a customer is murdered, she needs to know why. Taking lessons from her favourite detectives, the always inquisitive Mei navigates the darker side of Singapore to find out what really led to the death of Sally Song.
