'Perhaps he had loved someone, but he couldn't tell anyone about it,' she said. 'To love, and to be loved, and yet not be able to let anyone know about it. And every trace of that love obliterated when you're gone.' Willie was struck by the pain in her eyes. 'No one would ever know it had ever existed, that it had given you great joy,' she said, 'perhaps the only joy you'd ever experienced in your life.'

This latest masterpiece from Tan Twan Eng harks back to early twentieth century Penang, and is cleverly woven around the characters of Somerset Maugham, his friends and acquaintances. Fans of his earlier novels, The Gift of Rain and The Garden of Evening Mists should not miss this 'masterful novel of public morality and private truth a century ago. Based on real events, it is a drama of love and betrayal under the shadow of Empire.'