Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2007

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 Engo, a Japanese diplomat who trains him in the art and discipline of aikido.

But the enigmatic Endo is bound by disciplines of his own and when the Japanese invade Malaya, threatening to destroy Philiip's family and everything he loves, he realises that his trusted sensei has been harbouring a devastating secret. Philip must risk everything to save those closest to him and to discover who and what he really is.

Description

Size: 19.8 x 12.8 x 3.7 cm, 510 pp, 478 gm

Language: English

Tan Twan Eng was born in Penang, Malaysia. He holds the unique distinction of having both his debut and second novel contend for the Man Booker Prize. His second novel, The Garden of Evening Mists won the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2013. He divides his time between Kuala Lumpur and Cape Town.