Tag Archives: Singapore

In My Hands Today…

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Singapore Sapphire – A.M. Stuart

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Singapore 1910: Desperate for a fresh start and to distance herself from her tragic past, Harriet Gordon finds herself in Singapore at the height of colonial rule. Hoping to gain some financial independence, she advertises her services as a personal secretary.

It is unfortunate that she should discover her first client, Sir Oswald Newbold–explorer, mine magnate and president of the exclusive Explorers and Geographers’ Club–dead with a knife in his throat.

When Inspector Robert Curran is put on the case, he realizes that he has an unusual witness in Harriet. Harriet’s keen eye for detail and strong sense of duty interests him, as does her distrust of the police and her traumatic past, which she is at pains to keep secret from the gossips of Singapore society.

When a second body is dragged from the canal, Harriet feels compelled to help with the case. She and Curran are soon drawn into a complex web of stolen gemstones and a mysterious gang of thieves who have no qualms about killing again to protect their secrets.Open publish panel

In My Hands Today…

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Rain Tree – Mahita Vas

Singapore, on the cusp of Independence.

In the midst of fear and uncertainty, a spirited young woman must choose between an education and her baby. When Ani is forcibly married, her dreams of becoming a teacher are shattered. Employed as a servant at Rain Tree, a colonial home, she indulges in English novels in her spare time.

When Ani is widowed soon after, she befriends her Chinese colleagues who shield her from her bigoted mistress. Ani learns that her husband has left her a horrifying debt, one she must keep secret to safeguard her job and dignity. Falling in love with a house guest brings temporary respite. And ramifications — Ani bears his child after he returns to England.

To keep her baby, Ani must leave the security of Rain Tree. With chronic unemployment, a housing shortage and impending Independence, Ani realises that without an education, life will be unbearable. With an illegitimate baby, life will be impossible. To alter her destiny, sacrifices must be made. But at what price? Rain Tree weaves a story of loyalty and hope with lessons on love unlike what Ani has learnt from English novels.

In My Hands Today…

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Sacred Waters – Meira Chand

Orphaned as a child and widowed at thirteen, Sita has always known the shame of being born female in Indian society. Her life constrained and shaped by the men around her, she could not be more different from her daughter, Amita, a headstrong university professor determined to live life on her own terms. While trying to unravel the mysteries in her mother’s past, Amita encounters a traumatic event that leads her down the path of self-discovery.

Unfolding simultaneously, their stories are set against the dramatic sweep of India’s anti-colonial struggle in the 1940s, and move between past and present, from rural India to the chaotic Burmese battlefront where Sita experiences life as a recruit in the Indian National Army, to modern-day Singapore. Richly layered and beautifully evocative, the novel is a compelling exploration of two women’s struggle to assert themselves in male-dominated societies of both the past and the present.

Instagram Interludes

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Last month, just before the Dorscon level was raised to orange, we went down to catch the Chingay parade, a colourful street parade which is one of the largest street performance and float parade in Asia. Of course we had the Covid-19 at the back of our minds, but decided to take advantage of the tickets we managed to get to check this out. Some photos from during and after the event.