Why Join?

  • Add New Books

  • Write a Review

  • Backpack Reading Lists

  • Newsletter Updates

Join Now

Filter:

The House of Doors

The House of Doors
  • Author(s): Tan Twan Eng
  • Location(s): Malaysia (Malaya), Penang
  • Genre(s): Fiction, Historical
  • Era(s): Early 20th Century

It is 1921 and at Cassowary House in the Straits Settlements of Penang, Robert Hamlyn is a well-to-do lawyer and his steely wife Lesley a society hostess. Their lives are invigorated when Willie, an old friend of Robert’s, comes...

Bamboo Heart

Bamboo Heart
  • Author(s): Ann Bennett
  • Location(s): London, Penang, Singapore, Thailand
  • Genre(s): Fiction
  • Era(s): 1930s/40s and 1980s

The First in the Bamboo Trilogy. Thailand, 1943: Thomas Ellis, captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore, is a prisoner-of-war on the Death Railway. In stifling heat he endures endless days of clearing jungle, breaking stone and...

Lies That Blind

Lies That Blind
  • Author(s): E S Alexander
  • Location(s): Penang
  • Genre(s): Historical, Fiction
  • Era(s): 1788

1788, Penang, Malaya: A young man desperate to prove himself becomes enmeshed in the web of deceit woven by an ambitious adventurer whose double-dealing imperils the island’s inhabitants. Malaya, 1788: Aspiring journalist Jim Lloyd jeopardises his future in ways...

The Gift of Rain

The Gift of Rain
  • Author(s): Tan Twan Eng
  • Location(s): Malaysia (Malaya), Penang
  • Genre(s): Fiction, Historical
  • Era(s): Before WW2 onwards

This is the story of Philip Hutton, as he grapples with his guilt and pain and the choices he had to make when the Japanese attacks Malaya and his home of Penang

Bamboo Island

Bamboo Island
  • Author(s): Ann Bennett
  • Location(s): Bangka Island, Kuala Lipis, Penang, Singapore, Sumatra
  • Genre(s): Fiction, Historical
  • Era(s): 1930s, 1940s 1960s

Malaysia 1962: Juliet Crosby, a plantation owner’s wife, has lived a reclusive life on her Malaysian rubber plantation since the Second World War robbed her of everyone she loved. The sudden appearance of a young woman from Indonesia disrupts...

Black Water Sister

Black Water Sister
  • Author(s): Zen Cho
  • Location(s): Penang
  • Genre(s): Fantasy, Magical Realism
  • Era(s): Modern

This mischievous Malaysian-set novel is an adventure featuring family, ghosts and local gods – from Hugo Award winning novelist Zen Cho. Her grandmother may be dead, but she’s not done with life . . . yet. As Jessamyn packs...

Kebaya Tales

Kebaya Tales
  • Author(s): Lee Su Kim
  • Location(s): Penang
  • Genre(s): Short Stories
  • Era(s): Contemporary

Kebaya Tales is a delightful collection of short stories, teeming with fascinating and interesting characters, unexpected twists and turns, cultural rituals, beliefs and superstitions and poignant events in the life stories of the Peranakans. Lee Su Kim’s book brings...

Would you like to add a book or a review or create a reading list? Join Today – It's FREE

Register Now