Why a Booktrail?
193os: Two woman fight for the love of one man
The Scent of Frangipani
What you need to know before your trail
Colonial Singapore. A love triangle. Will one woman’s jealousy destroy everyone? It is 1931 in colonial Singapore. A Chinese bondmaid of fifteen stands trial for her aunt’s murder. Mei Mei, born on the inauspicious double seventh day, feels her doomed destiny taking over. The tide turns. Mei Mei and an English boy, Richard, fall in love. However, British-born Clementine has set her heart on marrying Richard and the social divide between coloniser and native keep the lovers apart. It is 1942. Japanese bombs are falling over Singapore. Richard rekindles his desperate romance with Mei Mei. To what lengths will Clementine go to separate the lovers? When Mei Mei disappears in the bombing and Richard is injured and loses his memory, is the path finally clear for Clementine to claim Richard as her own?
Travel Guide
BookTrail Travel to Colonial Singapore
Singapore
An interesting look at colonial Singapore when trading and shipping where major industries in the city. People in the novel either work in the ports or stores and the women are supposed to marry well and keep house. There are some lovely areas such as Connaught Avenue and the Raffles boulevard where the characters walk, but take yourself further to the docks, and this is where the sweaty, hard work of the city is done.
Life for women in these gilded houses however are not all that it’s cracked up to be. Mei Mei is expected to work and is even sold at one point. Some people like her are sent to brothels…if they are lucky.
Any kind of relationship between the colonising forces and’natives’ were frowned upon and not even heard of. Romantic relationships were therefore out of the question.
In the background of this novel, the war and political events are taking shape, Japanese bombs are falling and time is running out. The fear, the changes in people’s lives are evoked well.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Scent of Frangipani
Destination: Singapore Author/Guide: Anjana Rai Chaudhuri Departure Time: 1931
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