Pearl

Penang Chronicles #2

by Rose Gan

Francis Light, the enigmatic Martinha, and the island of Penang. In this second volume of Penang Chronicles, the eponymous pearl, Martinha Rozells, embodies the diverse heritages of the Straits of Malacca in the 18th century. From her birth in Phuket to her childhood at the court of Kedah, we enter the fascinating world of a well-born woman of the Indies. Meanwhile her new husband, Francis Light, is still the dragon in search of his elusive a British settlement on the Straits of Malacca. From the courts of Siam and Kedah, to capture by the French and Dutch, from the salons of Calcutta through gun-running in the Straits, Pearl takes the reader on an astonishing journey culminating in the attainment of a dream on the island of Penang.

446 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2022

About the author

British by birth, Rose Gan first arrived in Kuala Lumpur in 1978 and has been living and working between both UK and Southeast Asia ever since.

Married to a Malaysian, and formerly a teacher of History and Latin in Manchester and in Malaysia, Gan was also Vice Chair for Museums of the Indonesian Heritage Society, a guide and docent in Museum National Indonesia, Jakarta, and Muzium Negara and the Textile Museum in KL.

In addition to lecturing to cultural associations, Gan has been actively involved with museum publications in Malaysia and Indonesia, both as a writer and editor.

This is Gan's first published novel, from a forthcoming trilogy, although she wrote her first book aged eight. It took her another fifty years to create this series. There was a lifetime of travelling and living to do first!

Reviews

[Sarah Norton-Staal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the second book in the series about the history of the island of Penang. I thoroughly enjoyed this book primarily as I love the island of Penang and Georgetown in particular, one of my favourite places in the world. This book was obviously very well researched and provided interesting historical details about ongoing regional conflicts in the history of Burma and Thailand. The struggle for the establishment of a British settlement on Penang was truly an epic adventure and thus provides a good story. The character of Francis Light and his family is also intriguing if perhaps somewhat romanticised in the book. I look forward to reading the third and final book in the series.

[Introvert Insane · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the pacing in this installment a bit slow than the previous installment. I thought that we're going to get a lot more from Martinha but it's still majorly focusing on Light. I know that this is his story but I guess the synopsis led me to expect otherwise. But I still enjoy it nonetheless. The writing style is straightforward unlike what I'm used to with historical books but I'm okay with it.

[Gill Schell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second volume of the Penang Chronicles, Gan continues her fictional account of the life and times of Francis Light, together with his new wife, Martinha Rozells. Gan's writing transports the reader into the diverse world of the East, evoking the smell, the sounds, the landscape of the 18th century. A compelling read !

[Andrew Nathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely well-written and researched. I look forward to the third book. Patrick O'Brian would be proud. If you love this kind of story I recommend Axel Alwyn's Falcon trilogy about Constantine Phaulcon whose story may be even more amazing than Light's. That, and anything by Maurice Collis most particularly Siamese White and Foreign Mud. Gans writes as well as any of them.