Novel set in Burma (“…in Burma anything could be bought with money and nerve.”)

  • Book: The Road to Rangoon
  • Location: Burma (Myanmar)
  • Author: Lucy Cruickshanks

Review Author: tripfiction

Location

Content

IMG_1724Set in a very difficult period of Burma’s history, this novel brings the rawness and uncertainty of the times to life in the later 20th Century. We meet Thuza, a young woman, who has seen tragedy at the heart of her family. The Armed Forces, the Tatmadaw, hold a tight grip over the citizens, and people have to do what they have to do, to make ends meet. Thuza turns, quite successfully, to ruby smuggling and the whole process is eye opening and well researched (the best rubies are hard and cold when touched with the tongue, for example). Michael, the son of the British Ambassador is waiting to go back to England, but soon he is missing; and Than, an ambitious military officer, sees his chance to move swiftly through the ranks.

There are very carefully observed mannerisms amongst the local people, and the oppressive times in which the people of Burma were living are acutely portrayed. It cleverly sets the historical for anyone who is going to visit in the 21st Century who wants to gain a sense of the country of Myanmar today.

“This is Burma, and it will be quite unlike any land you know about.” Rudyard Kipling, Letters from the East

Lucy talks to us on our blog about her researches/travels in Myanmar

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