The House at the Edge of the Jungle

Isabel and her brother Victor were born in Malaya but not long after put hastily onto a ship just ahead of the invading Japanese army and taken from the only home they’d known to be raised in England with an elderly aunt. Victor was just a baby, but Isabel mourned the parents and beloved amah who were left behind and never seen again. The book is set in 1973 when Victor, now a rather dull adult, invites the sentimental Isabel to go to Kuala Lumpur with him on a business trip. Defying her stiff and conventional husband, she agrees, giddy with anticipation of revisiting their childhood home and learning more about the fate of their parents, especially the mother, who she vaguely remembers disappeared shortly after Victor’s birth, leaving the children in the care of their father, and later, a kind stepmother. Victor disapproves of her “obsession”, wanting to leave the past buried. But even he is drawn in as they begin to learn more from one of his colleagues who had met their parents. Isabel is drawn to Malaysia – a country both familiar and unfamiliar – and to her brother’s colleague, Oliver, who helps her unravel the story of her family. This book has enough accurate descriptions of the area to delight those familiar with the country, and it touches on some of the emotions of returning to a childhood home after being away many years and finding oneself torn between a deep sense of belonging and a feeling of displacement.