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Review: Shoma Mittra - A Rich Reading Experience
The White Amah by Ann Massey weaves a tale around three women connected by a single mistake. Like a haunting melody that peaks and troughs, this book has some stunning writing without being trite. It will take you traipsing through the night life of Singapore, launch you into the deep rain forests of Borneo and scoop you up and put you down in the streets of London.
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Classic thrillers from Ann Massey
Strong women, powerful suspense, fall into the grip of an Ann Massey novel and it will never let you go.
Any fan of Nora Roberts, Maeve Binchy Danielle Steele and Jilly Cooper will love The White Amah - a powerful and intriguing family saga.
Ann Massey weaves a spellbinding story of a young woman brought up in the rain-drenched jungle of Borneo who, to escape a forced marriage, embarks on a search for her roots. The only link with her past is a beautiful hand carved necklace. Her voyage of discovery takes her to England and a women's prison called Holloway. It is here she finds her mother and discovers the cruel and startling truth about her family and her heritage.
Tuff is a chartbusting pop singer with a dubious past. She has created a carefully contrived image around her persona and the public are ga-ga over her every move. But when confronted with some unpalatable truths from her past, Tuff loses her cool and makes one wrong move which will prove to be very costly for her.
Seventeen years earlier, a young Australian called Crystal Brooke finds herself abandoned in the big bad world in Singapore. Her dreams of becoming a pop star come crashing down when she finds that she is pregnant. There is no question about returning back to her family in Australia. Crystal knows that her father would never accept her. Frightened and alone, there is only one option – Crystal puts her baby up for adoption.
The infant is adopted by an expat family in Malaysia. The couple engage an amah (nanny) to look after the baby, Mei-Li. Rubiah, the amah is herself a young girl and although she loves and cares for the baby, her sights are set on a good life. ‘Good life’ comes in the form of nightly visits from her employer who piles her with gifts and baubles –until the wife finds out. Then all hell breaks loose and the expat dumps Rubiah and flees the country with his wife. Rubiah is left holding a baby she doesn’t want.
She realises that she is only a young girl herself and her dreams of a slick city life with all the riches will remain a distant dream if she has an infant in tow. So Rubiah takes the baby to her native village in a remote rain forest jungle in Borneo where she leaves Mei Li under the care of her parents and returns to the city to make a life for herself.
In the deep forests, Mei Li is brought up as a traditional Dayak tribal woman. She has no ambition except to lead a good peaceful life in the jungle she loves. But fate has other things in store for her and no one is more surprised than Mei Li at the turn of events which catapults her into an environment she has never dreamed of. She becomes the white amah.
Ann Massey’s book The White Amah plays on many different levels. It is like peeling off the petals from an exotic tightly curled bloom – the more you peel, the tighter are the curls beneath- enticing you to lift yet another layer. Beautiful prose, accompanied by a plot with surprising twists and turns, this book keeps you hooked to the very end. The White Amah shows how much Massey’s work has matured as a writer after the The Biocide Conspiracy which was her first novel.
The White Amah is a treat to read and I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a rich reading experience.
Purchase from http://www.amazon.com/White-Amah-Ann-Massey/dp/1456578065/ref=cm_cr-mr-title
Wendy O'Hanlon Click, A Cultural Connection
Delving into The White Amah is like eating a rich dessert - layers and layers of delightful surprises. This story begins so innocently in Australia and then follows so many hard-edged surprising turns that the reader's head is spinning - in a most delightful way - through Malaysia and then onto London.
And just like a many-layered dessert, you simply can't dally in savouring the different offerings - all must be impatiently revealed.
The author, Ann Massey, introduces us first to the main characters one by one - like the many-layered dessert. At first we are rapt in the dancing, rocking Crystal - an ambitious teenager who secures a dancing contract in malaysia. Our attention then turns to the impoverished Rubiah who schemes her way out of the drudgery of tribal life in a Dayak village. But then we are immersed in the battles of little Mei Li - a girl who believes she came from the Dayak village but feels somewhat of an outcast because of her fairer skin and great height.
Behind these personal stories is the backdrop of the timber logging industry in Malaysia which makes multi-national companies rich while plundering and destroying the precious environmental habitat and centuries-old tribal way of life.
Massey has crafted an unforgettable novel full of the curious twists and turns of fate. A very satisfying read and delicious to the very end.
John Morrow's Pick of the Week
In this story we meet Crystal a 17 year old student who is leaving school before her final exams. She has been offered a place with the White Diamonds, a dance troupe which tours South-East Asia.
Her music and drama teacher wasn't impressed by Crystal's attitude, or the fact that she was leaving school so suddenly. The school had been rehearsing for the Rock Eisteddfod for months and now, Crystal had let the whole production down.
Although many of the girls envied her home situation, Crystal would rather have had her parents just like all the other girls, instead of her mother running off to join a commune ten years ago, while her workaholic father barely knew what she was up to.
Crystal's first shock comes when she arrives in Singapore at her lodgings. Jimmy wong, the director of the White Diamonds, has made deals all over town. The dump that he expects his dancers to live in is disgusting and untidy. Three dancers share a room and there is little encouragement or room for them to have much luggage.
However, Crystal is a resourceful girl and it's not long before she becomes the star of the show. She has used her wiles and beauty to capture the attention of Jimmy Wong, but the other girls are not happy at all. Things soon begin to deteriorate, though, when the troupe is asked to perform topless for one of the Royal family members.
After Crystal leaves the palace in disgust at the goings on by some of the girls, she is horrified to learn that jimmy Wong has been arrested for running prostitution and selling drugs. most of her fellow dances are also arrested for sexual activities. She's even more horrified to learn that the police are after her as part of the troupe as well.
This book tells the story of a young girl's journey which begins in Perth Australia and continues in Singapore. It is a well written novel with surprises round every corner.
I was blown away by this book. I honestly had not expected it to be quite as intricate as it is. It's quite a story that has an awesome view of Southeast Asian indigenous people. There is a little mystery thrown in and a look at the rougher side of life. The introduction of a lot of characters can sometimes be overwhelming but not here. I loved how in the end everyone ties together one way or another and how the story does a well rounded circle.
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