50  Malaya – Tan Twan Eng – The Garden of Evening Mists (Score 9.3)

This is my second score of 10/10 in a row. I absolutely loved this book.

The protagonists of the story is a newly retired woman, Judge Teoh Yun Ling. Her handyman is A Cheong whose wife, A Foon, is dead. They are in the Central Highlands of Malaya. During the Second World War Yun Ling and her sister were imprisoned in a Japanese camp, her sister dying there.

The story moves between the war years and the present in a way which slowly reveals the history of Yun Ling and her old, now missing presumed dead, former neighbour and friend Mr Aritomo. He was once the gardener for the Emperor of Japan. The back-story is about 30 years in the past.

In the present time Judge Teoh is expecting a visit from Professor Yoshikawa Tatsuji. When he arrives he explains that he wishes to write a book on the ukiyo-e (woodblock prints) made by Nakamura Aritomo (Japanese style), and to use some of the prints to illustrate it.

This book deserves careful and attentive reading for the high quality of the language and the writing.

The original inhabitants of Malaya, the Orang Asti play a fairly major part in the story. I searched for information about them and found that they arrived in the area several thousand years ago.

I loved the description of Aritomo’s Kyudo (Japanese archery, infantry style) practice and the way he taught Judge Teoh. I practiced that for several years in Edinburgh in a class taught by a very experienced proponent of the style.

I am not going to say any more about the story as that could seriously spoil your enjoyment of it if you decide to read it. I really hope you do.