Product Description

Penang, 1939. Sixteen-year-old Philip Hutton is a loner. Half English, half Chinese and feeling neither, he discovers a sense of belonging in an unexpected friendship with Hayato Endo, a Japanese diplomat. Philip shows his new friend around his adored island of Penang, and in return Endo trains him in the art and discipline of aikido. But such knowledge comes at a terrible price. The enigmatic Endo is bound by disciplines of his own and when the Japanese invade Malaya, threatening to destroy Philip's family and everything he loves, he realises that his trusted sensei - to whom he owes absolute loyalty - has been harbouring a devastating secret. Philip must risk everything in an attempt to save those he has placed in mortal danger and discover who and what he really is.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4204 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
A powerful first novel about a tumultuous and almost forgotten period of history. --Times Literary Supplement

A remarkable book… about war, friendship, memory and discipline. --Ian McMillan, BBC Radio 3

Haunting and highly evocative... a deeply moving tale. --Cape Times

Ian McMillan, The Verb, BBC Radio 3
A remarkable book

Cape Times
"Haunting and highly evocative... a deeply moving tale."

Customer Reviews

A Book I will never forget
This was a true find. I finished reading in and it has stayed in my mind.
I've recommended it to everyone I know. It is a moving, troubling, unrelenting story of a young man's life and his search for meaning. It was on the Man Booker prize list and it deserved it. I hope they make a film of this. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Beautiful book
I loved this book and was sorry to finish it. The prose is beautiful with not one superfluous word. The story is important and well told. I disagree with some previous reviewers; yes, not all questions are answered and not all motivations are explained, but isn't that just like life? Well done, Tan Twan Eng, please write another book!

a very moving book
Philip Hutton is half Chinese and half English but in many ways does not really know where he belongs in the world. He has English siblings and an English father and his mother died when he was still very young. He many ways he perceives himself as an outsider within his family. By chance he strikes up a very powerful friendship with Endo. Endo becomes his mentor and helps him to finally come to terms with himself and who he is and his place in the world, but it comes at a very high price. There is a code of honour running through the whole book, and the descriptions of the whole discipline of aikido makes one want to go out and start training oneself. There were a couple of scenes in the book that moved me to tears which demonstrates how well one becomes drawn into the lives of both Philip and Endo and Philip's family.