The Pearl of Penang
London, 1939. Twenty-seven-year-old spinster Evelyn is unhappy working as a live-in paid companion to an elderly lady. Evelyn is considering other opportunities when a letter unexpectedly arrives from Malaya from her mother’s cousin Douglas, a widower twelve years her senior. While the letter offers condolences on Evelyn’s father’s death, it’s a thinly disguised marriage proposal, offering Evelyn a new life on his rubber plantation. Having dismal prospects in England—her mother lives in America—Evelyn accepts. However, Evelyn and Douglas’s married life in the Pearl of the Orient is not all that she’d imagined. Although Evelyn lives in a mansion with servants and a chauffeur-driven car, it’s a lonely existence in the city. Douglas is often away at his plantations. While Evelyn is snubbed by some of the Penang Club’s ex-pat upper-class ladies, Douglas’s best friend, Arthur, desires her. Furthermore, the moody and abrasive Douglas harbors secrets. These shocking disclosures put Evelyn and Douglas on a collision course, and then the Japanese invade Malaya.
In this tenth novel, Flynn continues admirably to bring to life the lives of British expatriates in the Colonies, this time in Malaya just before and during WWII. The detailed descriptions of Penang and the rubber plantations seem to be based on her extensive research and world travels. While it’s known that living in those far-off lands was problematic, the plight and anxieties of a young bride transported into a lush tropical island, amongst the mayhem of the crowded towns and attitudes of some indifferent fellow British women, are portrayed compellingly. While Douglas’s uncaring mindset and secretiveness may not be a surprise, it adds intrigue to the plot. The inclusion of local characters and religious beliefs broadens the appeal of the story. Readers will look forward to the sequel. Highly recommended.
