Explore the Beauty of Far Malayan Shores with Tara Haigh

RAJ: A little slow to get your interest. Worth the wait. Good conclusion. Get a sense of the landscape and people

United Kingdom on Jul 19, 2023

Judi Adams: I enjoyed this book, it did get a bit bogged down in places and I did move over these bits. It is a good and complex story and the end was not predictable.

Australia on Feb 05, 2022

PW: Enjoyed the suspense you built up leading to the surprise near the end. Hard to put this book down. Great read.

United States on Oct 12, 2021

A Salvesen: The book delivers a steady drumbeat of intrigue, following a young woman on an amazing adventure in an “exotic” land. The colorful characters she encounters keep the story interesting, as you root for the gutsy, norm-defying heroine to solve the mystery that consumes her waking moments.

The twists in the plot work well, until the end—which brings me to my one critique, which would make this 4.5 stars rather than five. After all the intrigue, the yearning to learn what really happened, the big reveal felt like the author was in a hurry to tie up everything in a neat package.

For me, the ending felt almost like the author had built up a mystery and wasn’t quite sure where to take it, rather than working backward from a final twist to tell a story that in retrospect led up to that point, each piece of the puzzle fitting in beautifully and logically, despite the twists along the way.

United States on Apr 16, 2021

Beautyseeker: an interesting story of a lady s search for her birth parents. Also a insite into life on Malayan and their politics during English Rein.

United States on Dec 19, 2020

Jaima Mani: The setting as well as the author were new to me, as was the country, I was seeing the country and its people with fresh eyes, which I enjoyed. The story was well thought out and written.

To me, the relationship between the two main protagonists seemed a little rushed.

United States on Aug 30, 2020

em.mus: This just failed to reach 5 stars for me due to occasional loss of momentum in the rhythm of storytelling. The story will appeal to those wanting a good holiday read. I wish the language used was more sensitive and real when there were changes of emotions between principal characters. Sadly, the ending was too rushed.

United Kingdom on Mar 05, 2020

Eileen M.E.Wilde.: This is the first time I have read anything by this author, and I am so pleased I did. This has a marvellous storyline which, among other things, gives the readers a very descriptive outline of Singapore and it’s different cultures. The story tells of a young woman who was adopted and sets out to try and trace her biological father. This takes her on a journey travelling through various places within the Malaysian peninsula and beyond. The title alone peaked my interest as I have been to Singapore. I loved this story and would recommend it to all readers. The characters are very believable. It is also quite emotional, together with pathos and empathy.

United Kingdom on Jan 29, 2020

C Woods: This story is set in 1898 but reads like a modern day book which ruined it thoroughly for me.

The story begins in Hamburg, Germany where a young woman, who already knows she's adopted, bears the revelations of her dying adopted father. He has given her a clue as to her true origins. Her father had been a sailor and brought her home as an infant to his wife 22 years previously and payments had been made throughout the child's life to pay for her upbringing. This sparks the desire on the young woman's part to seek out her true parentage somewhere in Malay.

The mystery part of the plot is okay, although I have to admit I figured most of it out long before the dramatic ending. The characters were many and might have been interesting but for the modern take on them considering the historical era.

I also find it rather tiresome when a white character, a young female in this case, is described as such a heroine, brave and without caring what others think as she voices her nonsensical attitudes regarding race and race-mixing! Given the era it's not believable that a single white female would be so nonchalant about the subject, nor would a Malaysian man living under...

United States on Jan 21, 2020

Silvertabby: The author has constructed a very good plot. She hasn't annoyed the reader by throwing in red herrings that lead to nothing or unbelievable coincidences so the story of her protagonist is fluent in the course of her investigation.
But she fails completely in terms of making this historical. The plot would serve just as well with changes in location and occupation straight into the 21st century, in fact the reader gets catapulted on occasion into the modern world. She describes passengers on the ship as "stuffing their faces", a modern term...why not "eating greedily", and the British Governor saying, "We Brits..." Brits was a term , initially of derision, first made by Republicans during the "Irish Troubles" of last century.
She fails to evoke the atmosphere of the British Raj, (for expert handling of this see Scott's "Jewel in the Crown") so the tensions of the era in terms of social and cultural conflict are understated, apart from a small resistance movement. Further to this she has no ear for dialogue; these differing peoples, Chinese, Indian and Malay speak English as their second language, as indeed does her foremost character, who is German. The influences a first...

United Kingdom on Jan 06, 2020