A truly Great Read - 'Convincing, exotic, lively, for sheer story-telling it puts other so-called "epics" in the shade' Standard

Opulence. Invasion. Terror. And forbidden passion in 1930s Singapore.

'They were the golden days, when Singapore was as rich as its climate was steamy, its future as assured as it was busy. And those days were made even better when, as was inevitable, I fell in love with the Chinese beauty of Julie Soong and, against all unwritten canons of Singapore life, we became lovers.'

"'An astonishing fictional debut . . . A great read'" - Daily Mail

"'An exceedingly good book, and one of the can't put down variety . . . a winner' M M Kaye, author of The Far Pavilions" - M M Kaye, author of The Far Pavilions

"'Noel Barber has always done everything in a big way, with style, panache and a dash of adventure. But he has never written a story of such dimensions, such a sense of history and imagination as this first novel . . . it is an intensely gripping and convincing story'" - Manchester Evening News

"'Barber is a master'" - Mail on Sunday