Riots, a royal family in exile, the brutality of colonialism, the teak and rubber trade and more are all described in compelling detail. While the fictional side of the tale enthralled us, what we loved most was the incredibly colourful historical context. Many threads are woven tightly in this straightforwardly executed novel as the story ricochets between the main Burmese, Indian and Chinese characters and through wars, into the modern era.
Rajkumar and Dolly move back to Burma, where their business thrives as they have two children. During the mayhem here he spies a girl he falls in love with, who works for Queen Supayalat, and after making a success of himself in the timber trade thanks to the lover of his former employer, Chinese merchant Saya John, helping him out, he tracks her down in Ratnagiri, where the family lives in exile. Rajkumar stays on as a restaurant worker, and witnesses the British depose and deport the last king of Burma, Thebaw, and his family, to India in 1885.
The novel, published in 2000, charts the lives of Rajkumar Raha and his family, starting in Mandalay, where he finds himself stranded when the sampan he is working on breaks down.
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