This romantic suspense filled fiction transports the reader back in time to WW11 when the Japanese invaded Malaya shortly after their attack on Pearl Harbour. The British forces were soon overpowered, panic and chaos amongst the people erupted everywhere. One of Malaya’s wealthiest rubber plantation owners, the Hadley’s, with some of their closest friends decide there only chances of survival is to escape to Singapore on their private yacht the “White Pearl”. The epic highlights their struggle on the open sea and their fear when they learn their original destination has also become a target and has lost its status as a safe haven. Their only option is to seek refuge on a small island and hope the terrors of war will not reach them. The author’s great imagination is her strong suit. A lot of attention has been put in detailing the scene, conveying the culture, the political diversities and the language. Her writing portrays the time, the place and the mood exceptionally well. The story is mainly told in the third person and the plotting is quite diversified. It is a war time tale of betrayal, survival, the quest for love and freedom, also the price paid to enjoy some of the perks we take for granted today. As a side bar in the form of flashbacks the author covers Connie Hadley’s affair with a Japanese businessman before the war. The pacing is slow and steady, the characterization although diverse lacks in realism at times, some of the players were under developed and others dragged on a little too much.
This is a fairly light and entertaining novel, however having read others from this writer I would not consider it one of her best, all that said and done I did enjoy it for what it is.
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