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Olivia and Sophia

Olivia and Sophia

Author(s): Rosie Milne

Location(s): Java, Malaysia (Malaya), Singapore, Sumatra

Genre(s): Fiction, Historical

Era(s): 19th Century

Location

Content

Two audacious women; one remarkable man …

When Raffles sets sail from the cold, damp confines of Georgian London to make his name and fortune in the tropics, he takes with him his new wife, Olivia, a raffish beauty with a scandalous past. She infatuates both his closest friend, a poet, and one of his bitterest rivals, a soldier. Raffles sees what is going on, but he turns a blind eye – or so hopes Olivia.

After Olivia’s death, and back on leave in London, Raffles, a man once again in need of a wife, makes a practical marriage. Sophia, no beauty, but curious and intelligent, embraces the opportunity of an exciting life abroad. Marriage brings her great joy but also great sadness. Her life with Raffles becomes a catalogue of loss: of their children, of their possessions, of their savings.

And all the while, Raffles, driven and talented, manoeuvres at the centre of global networks of power, trade, politics and diplomacy. His scheming culminates, to his eventual glory, with the founding of a new trading post: Singapore.

Transport yourself from London to equatorial Penang, Malacca, Java, Sumatra, and Singapore.

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Book Reviews

Lead Review

A captivating story set around the colonial powers, all vying for the upper hand and the story of Sir Stamford Raffles, through the eyes of his two wives. A good read to capture the...

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