Brigadier's Wife by Chris Tao ISBN 9789889836276 | | Chameleon Press | February 2006 | HK$119.00 Buy this book from Paddyfield.com

This is a story of love, greed, corruption and brutality that ranges from the snows of the Himalayas to the idyllic islands of the Andaman Sea and the boardrooms of Hong Kong, written under a pseudonym by an Asian insider with a striking new voice. Zhaing, by birth Chinese but away from his homeland, is cursed by the need to find something to replace the traditions that brought him to the world of murder and deceit that defines him. This he finds in Nilar, the beautiful and enigmatic wife of a general in the isolated, unknowable Burmese regime. Brought together by the grimy politics of Southeast Asia, their time together is short and dangerous. Affecting and revealing, mysterious and fascinating, The Brigadier's Wife captures the essence of the country where China and Southeast Asia meet.

Review: The Asian Review of Books