Free read A DifferentSky

Characters ð eBook, PDF or Kindle ePUB ☆ Meira Chand Meira Chand ☆ 7 Characters Read ´ A DifferentSky ✓ eBook, PDF or Kindle ePUB Singapore a trading post where different lives jostle and mix It is 1927 and three young people are starting to uestion whether this inbetween island can ever truly be their home Mei Lan comes from a famous Chinese dynasty but yearns to free herself from its stifling traditions; ten yea. This is the kind of historical fiction that educates effortlessly Set in Singapore spanning 1927 through 1946 this novel was a uniue read for me in that it covered an era I love in a setting wholly unfamiliar to me Chand s characters aren t royalty or society elite but every day people caught up in a changing landscape real historical moments meet the every day Chand s focus in this novel is on three primary groups in Singapore the Eurasians Howard Burns his mother and his sister local citizens of indigenous and European descent viewed by the white Europeans as only a step above natives the transplanted Indians Raj Sherma who migrated to Singapore for economic independence and ends up embroiled with the Japanese by a twist of fate and the Chinese Mei Lan a smart young woman whose family straddles modern European ideas and traditional Chinese culture and is caught herself between accepting her family s wishes and starting off on her ownIn almost any novel the lives of women interest me most so I was unsurprised to find that Mei Lan s story grabbed me immediately However Chand s detailed plotting character development and nuanced study of race class and education sucked me and I ended up caring deeply for both Raj and Howard as well Even though I think the jacket blurb tries to imply a love triangle this isn t just a historical romance set up in an exotic locale This is really a novel about Singapore and the occupation of the land first by the British and then by the Japanese Identity and alliance is intrinsic to the story Howard s mother Rose perceives the European disdain for Eurasions to be right and appropriate while Howard chafes at the implication Raj struggles to rectify his experiences with the Japanese every one he s met has mentored and educated him with the virulent anti Japanese sentiment in Singapore Both Howard and Raj are captivated by Gandhi s anti colonial revolutionary actions in India but are split as to whether Singapore should take up the movement Mei Lan is desirous of the university education her brother is given but feels committed to her Chinese identity especially when news of Japanese brutalities in China reach SingaporeLike Nevil Shute s A Town Like Alice this book covers the before during and after of occupation and I appreciated Chand s ability to offer the spectrum of emotional responses My only complaint is that despite the novel s length 483 pages some moments felt thin and underdeveloped Enormous events are skipped over casually alluded to and years pass with only a vague comment The dips in and out of the lives of the secondary characters was both enjoyable and maddening I loved the additional facets through which the story was told but I was frustrated by the lack of development and resolution with them as they were as compelling as the leadsThis was my first Meira Chand novel but I m absolutely going to look for the rest of her books this was a meaty engrossing sink your teeth into historical novel that will stay with me I m haunted by the characters and I wish I could follow them another twenty years

Characters ð eBook, PDF or Kindle ePUB ☆ Meira Chand Meira Chand ☆ 7 Characters Read ´ A DifferentSky ✓ eBook, PDF or Kindle ePUB R old Howard seethes at the indignities heaped on his fellow Eurasians by the colonial British; Raj fresh off the boat from India wants only to work hard and become a successful businessman As the years pass and the Second World War sweeps through the east with the Japanese occupying Si. A beautifully written haunting yet hopeful romantic but tragic story of a Singapore that existed not so long ago but is so very different from the Singapore of today Modern day Singapore is a pristine organized law abiding society the people I met while I resided on the island did not uestion did not riot accepted the status uo It was much rigid than what I was used to and I often found myself frustrated with the lack of entrepreneurial think outside the box creative thinking and decision making that I felt the country would need to move forward I often reminded myself though that it was a fairly new country and was as successful today as it was because of the straight and narrow path it was forging Ms Chand though has introduced me to the Singapore of 50 60 70 years ago and has not only confirmed my thoughts of the necessity of the straight and narrow but has amazed me even with how far this little island nation has come The Singapore of this novel is so far removed from the Singapore I know and love so as to not even be recognizable Brothels gangs opium dens violence riots rats unsanitary conditions were rampant in that Singapore The devastating effects of the war were visible on everyone s face Her writing was descriptive and evocative the story was moving and fascinating I really enjoyed it and feel that it helped me appreciate the success of modern day Singapore even as it s given me a greater depth of understanding of its history

Meira Chand ☆ 7 Characters

Characters ð eBook, PDF or Kindle ePUB ☆ Meira Chand Meira Chand ☆ 7 Characters Read ´ A DifferentSky ✓ eBook, PDF or Kindle ePUB Ngapore the three are thrown together in unexpected ways and tested to breaking pointRichly evocative A Different Sky paints a scintillating panorama of thirty tumultuous years in Singapore's history through the passions and struggles of characters the reader will find it hard to forget. Good historical fiction about the beginnings of Singapore as a nation Much easier to read than The Art of Charlie Hock Chye as there was character development behind the true historical events Maybe I just understand about Singapore history now

• Paperback
• 496
• A DifferentSky
• Meira Chand
• English
• 13 June 2019
• 9781846553431