First published in 1956, Han Suyin’s magnificient novel about the Emergency Period in Malaya and Singapore evokes all the colour and conflict of a land where, in the late 1940s and early 50s, a bitter guerrilla war was fought between communist terrorists hiding out in the Malayan jungles and Malayan, British, Australian and New Zealand armed forces. With infinite sharpness and feeling, Han Suyin writes about the intertwining lives of many people caught up in the clash of powerful forces.