Author: Tash Aw
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Format: Trade Paperback
Pages: 352
Genre: Novel
Adam is an orphan three times over. He and his older brother, Johan, were abandoned by their mother as children; he watched as Johan is adopted and is taken to Kuala Lumpur by a wealthy Malaysian couple, to a life of smart restaurants and expensive cars, whilst Adam remains in Indonesia where he is adopted in by a Dutch painter, Karl, and finds himself growing up in a simple coastal town. Adam often thinks of his brother, but as the years pass, the memories become less painful, and he adapts to his new life.
However, in the summer of 1964 unrest is in the air as post-colonial Indonesia slides gradually towards civil war. Foreigners, and especially the Dutch, are treated with increasing hostility. Adam is forced to hide when Karl is arrested by soldiers during Sukarno's drive to purge Indonesia of its colonial past. Sixteen year old Adam resolves to do all that he can to find Karl. All he has to guide him are some old photos and letters, which send him to the colourful, dangerous capital. He makes his way to an old friend of Karl's in Jakarta who agrees to help. In the volatile atmosphere of the capital, and lured by the promise of help to find his brother, Adam quickly falls in with a dangerous crowd and is swept up in events that reach far beyond his understanding.
Johan, meanwhile, is living a seemingly carefree, privileged life in Malaysia, but is careering out of control, unable to forget the long-ago betrayal of his helpless, trusting brother ...
ISBN: 9780732288747
