The Red Thread

A Chinese Tale of Love and Fate in 1830s Singapore

Published by Monsoon
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

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About The Book

Like Chinese silk, The Red Thread is, by turns, gentle and strong, exploring a love that breaks through the divide of race and culture, a love that is both deeply physical and a marriage of souls. Set against the backdrop of 1830s Singapore where piracy, crime, triads and tigers are commonplace, this cultural romance follows the struggle of two lovers: Zhen, once the lowliest of Chinese coolies and triad member, later chosen to marry into a Peranakan family of Baba Chinese merchants; and Charlotte, an 18-year-old Scots girl and sister of Singapore's Chief of Police. Two cultures bound together by the invisible threads of fate yet separated by cultural diversity. In this first volume of The Straits Quartet, Dawn Farnham incorporates real figures from Singapore’s historical past and brings to life the heady atmosphere of Old Singapore, where exotic beliefs and customs clash and jostle in the struggle to make a life and create mutual understanding between peoples from different worlds.

About The Author

Product Details

  • Publisher: Monsoon (April 7, 2015)
  • Length: 328 pages
  • ISBN13: 9789814423595

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Raves and Reviews

Immaculately researched

– The Daily Telegraph

Multiple protagonists and perspectives, both Eastern and Western, and elaborate description transport the reader to a fascinating time and place brimming with mystical and poetic flourishes.

– Booklist

Exceptionally well-written … A beautiful story to relish on every page

– Review of the Historical Novels Society

Rollicking saga … a brilliant evocation of the settlement in its early days, both in its physical details and socio-cultural nuances.

– Expat Living, Singapore

Thoroughly enjoyable historical romance.

– Lifestyle, Singapore

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More books from this author: Dawn Farnham

More books in this series: The Straits Quartet

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