by Clare Flynn
She bit her lip. ‘You don’t need an excuse.’
The foghorn sounded. ‘I have to go,’ she said, needlessly. ‘You don’t have to stay to wave me off. Goodbye Howard.’ She began to walk towards the ship, then just before the gangway, turned and ran back to him, throwing her arms around him. He drew her in and held her against him. She could hear the beating of his heart through his thin cotton shirt. He bent down and kissed the top of her head. ‘Goodbye, my sweet girl. Go and do great things. Send me a postcard occasionally and try not to forget me.’
‘I could never forget you, Howard. I owe you my life.’
‘And what a life it’s going to be. Paris won’t know what’s hit it.’ He eased her away. ‘Now go, before they sail without you, or I try to make you change your mind.’
Her cheeks streaming with tears, Jasmine turned and ran up the gangway.
THE END
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Author’s Notes and Acknowledgements
I have used the spelling Sungei Siput for the location of the 16th June murders that kicked off the Emergency, rather than the spelling used today - Sungai Siput. All contemporary accounts use the Sungei spelling, including the newspaper reports. This may cause confusion as there is another town spelt with the ‘e’ in the south of Malaysia in Malacca. I considered using the current Sungai spelling to avoid such confusion, but prefer to be historically accurate. This also goes for other spellings such as kampong or kampung – I have used what I believe would have been the common colonial British usage at the time, based on contemporary accounts.
Apart from significant historic figures, including the murdered planters, Chin Peng and named members of the government, all characters are entirely products of my imagination. One exception is Kuttan, who makes a brief appearance as the waiter at the Galle Face Hotel in Colombo. This is the late Kottarapattu Chattu Kuttan, who was reputed to be the longest serving hotel employee in the world. He died in 2014, aged 94 while still working at the hotel as their iconic doorman, after seventy years’ service there. At the time of Jasmine’s and Evie’s stay in the hotel he would have been a waiter in the restaurant.
I drew on various sources in the background research to this book. These include
The Malayan Emergency: Essays on a Small, Distant War (Nias Monographs 2016), Souchou Yao;
The War of the Running Dogs, (Orion 2004) Noel Barber, 1971;
Malayan Spymaster, Memoirs of a Rubber Planter, Bandit Catcher and Spy, (Monsoon, 2012), Bruce Hemby;
Out in the Midday Sun, (John Murray Ltd 2000, new edition 2015 Monsoon), Margaret Shennan,;
Growing Up in British Malaya and Singapore, (World Scientific, 2015) Maurice Baker.
The BBC 1998 documentary, Malaya, The Undeclared War, which included interviews with Chin Peng, was invaluable as were past editions of The Straits Times.
The Huntley Film Archives proved to be a superb source of original footage of life in Malaya before and during the period.
My thanks also to Jeffery Seow for answering questions and pointing me in the direction of several useful online resources on Penang during the Emergency. Also to the Facebook group The Malayan Emergency 1948-1960 – the members’ posts and photographs made the period feel immediate and tangible.
As always thanks to Jane Dixon-Smith for her beautiful cover and Debi Alper, my wonderful editor.
Thanks also to the fellow members of my local critique group, Margaret Kaine, Jay Dixon and Joanna Warrington, and to Clare O’Brien, Debbie Marmor, Liza Perrat, Victoria Riley (who is also the fabulous narrator of the Penang audiobooks) and to Sharon Phelps, Judy Granit, Jane Willis, Lynn Osborne, Judy Cordiner and Jill Hiatt for their eagle eyes. And last but not least thanks to my readers across the world who make it all so worthwhile.
Glossary
Amah - nursemaid or housekeeper
Attap - straw thatching for roofs
Baju kurung – Malayan traditional woman’s dress
Cheongsam - traditional Chinese-style woman’s dress
Chicks – wooden slatted blinds
Kampong - village or rural settlement
Kebun - gardener
Mem - term used for European women, like ma’am or madam
Missee - European girl
Padang - grassy space for recreation, used for the daily muster on rubber estates
Stengah - whisky and soda – the favoured drink of expat European men
Syce - driver, groom or chauffeur - word imported from India
Tiffin - lunch - word imported from India
Tuan - honorific for addressing European men - sir, lord, boss
Tuan besar - big boss - head of enterprise
BMA - British Military Administration - in force between 1945 and April 1946
CT - communist terrorist - also referred to at the time as bandits
MPAJA - Malayan Peoples’ Anti-Japanese Army
MNLA - Malayan National Liberation Army (sometimes wrongly translated as the Malayan Races Liberation Army)
Force 136 - name used from 1944 for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) in the Far East – a guerrilla force parachuted into the jungle behind enemy lines to support indigenous resistance groups. In the last few months of the Second World War this group dropped around 2000 weapons into the jungle for the MPAJA. Most of these were never returned after the war and were used by the MNLA against the British during the Emergency.
About the Author
Clare Flynn is the author of twelve historical novels and a collection of short stories.
A former Marketing Director and strategy consultant, she was born in Liverpool and has lived in London, Newcastle, Paris, Milan, Brussels and Sydney and is now enjoying being in Eastbourne on the Sussex coast where she can see the sea and the Downs from her windows.
When not writing, she loves to travel (often for research purposes) and enjoys painting in oils and watercolours as well as making patchwork quilts and learning to play the piano again.
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Also by Clare Flynn
The Pearl of Penang
Winner of the 2020 BookBrunch Selfies Award for Adult Fiction; Discovering Diamonds Book of the Month
"Following the death of my wife, I am in need of support and companionship. I am prepared to make you an offer of marriage."
Flynn’s tenth novel explores love, marriage, the impact of war and the challenges of displacement – this time in a tropical paradise as the threat of the Japanese empire looms closer.
ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIOBOOK
A Prisoner from Penang
After Penang is attacked by the Japanese at th
e end of 1941, Mary Helston believes Singapore will be a safe haven. But within weeks the supposedly invincible British stronghold is on the brink of collapse to the advancing enemy.
Mary and her mother are captured at sea as they try to escape and are interned on the islands of Sumatra. Imprisoned with them is Veronica Leighton, the one person on the planet Mary has reason to loathe with a passion.
As the motley band of women struggle to adapt to captivity, relationships and friendships are tested. When starvation, lack of medication and the spread of disease worsen, each woman must draw on every ounce of strength in their battle for survival.
A vivid and moving story of sacrifice, hope and humanity.
"In this testament to the strength of female friendship and endurance under the harshest of conditions, Flynn has imagined the unimaginable - a dazzling achievement." Linda Gillard, Author of The Memory Tree and House of Silence
ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIOBOOK
* * *
The Chalky Sea
Two troubled people in a turbulent world.
Gwen Collingwood is an English woman, and Jim Armstrong, a young Canadian soldier. Their stories entwine during World War Two in a small English seaside town.
“ Flynn’s novel is a vivid page-turner that depicts the destruction of war, but it is most notable for its portrayal of the effects it has on individual lives. (BookLife, Publishers Weekly)
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The Alien Corn
They faced up to the challenges of war – but can they deal with the troubles of peace?
The follow up to The Chalky Sea, The Alien Corn is set in rural Canada in the aftermath of World War 2. Jim Armstrong has returned to his farm in Ontario where he is joined by his English war bride, Joan. Jim suffers from the after-effects of the horrors he witnessed in the Italian campaign, while Joan struggles to adapt to her new life and family.
“Flynn’s novel captures the obstacles faced both by soldiers returning from battle and by those close to them. Readers of the first book will relish the chance to spend more time with the characters, and new readers will find plenty to savor.” (BookLife, Publishers Weekly)
ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO BOOK
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The Frozen River
Three strong women make their way in 1950s Canada
The Frozen River completes the trilogy.
English hairdresser, Ethel Underwood, is alone after the deaths of her family and her wartime fiancé. Widow and single mother, Alice Armstrong, bringing up two daughters, receives an unexpected inheritance that will transform her life. War bride, Joan Armstrong, is now mother to four small children. All are brought together in a rural Canadian town where they each try to build a future – often in spite of the men in their lives.
Each woman has a different idea of happiness. Will any or all of them achieve it?
ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIOBOOK
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A Greater World
Elizabeth Morton, born into a prosperous family, and Michael Winterbourne, a miner, come from different worlds but when they each suffer a life-changing tragedy they’re set on a path that intertwines on the deck of the SS Historic, bound for Sydney.
Falling in love should have been the end to all their troubles. But fate and the mysterious Jack Kidd make sure it's only the beginning.
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Kurinji Flowers
Married to a man she barely knows. Exiled to a country she doesn’t know at all. Ginny Dunbar flees a turbulent past only to discover that her future, married to a tea planter, in a colonial hill station, is anything but secure.
An emotional love story set in the dying days of colonial India.
“A sweeping, lush story - the depiction of India in all its colours, smells and vibrancy is pitch-perfect in its depiction." (Historical Novel Society)
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Letters from a Patchwork Quilt
In 1875, 18-year-old would-be poet, Jack Brennan, runs away from home to avoid being forced into the priesthood.
Jack’s world is shattered when Mary Ellen, his landlord's daughter, falsely accuses him of fathering the child she is expecting, setting his life on a collision course to disaster.
A touching story of love, loss and thwarted ambition.
“A heartbreaking and moving tale” Readers’ Favorite
ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN AUDIO BOOK
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The Green Ribbons
1900. Hephzibah Wildman loses her parents in a tragic accident and is forced to leave home to earn her living as a governess at Ingleton Hall.
A gypsy tells her fortune – “Two men will love you – both will pay the price”. An impulsive decision by Hephzibah unleashes a chain of events that lead to dangerous consequences.
A classic Victorian love story, full of twists and turns.
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Storms Gather Between Us
Life can change in the matter of a moment...
Since escaping his family’s notoriety in Australia Will Kidd has spent a decade sailing the seas, never looking back. Content to live the life of a wanderer, everything changes in a single moment when he comes face to face with a ghost from his past on a cloudy beach in Liverpool.
The daughter of an abusive zealot, every step of Hannah Dawson's life has been laid out for her...until she meets Will by chance and is set on a new path. Their love is forbidden and forces on all sides divide them, but their bond is undeniable. Now, they will have to fight against all the odds to escape the chains of their histories and find their way back to one another.
“A wonderful read. Very thought-provoking and emotion-inducing, with a lovely ending and memorable characters.” (Pursuing Stacie, bookblogger)
“Deeply emotional” (Sally Reads bookblogger)
