National bestselling author of The Russian
Concubine, Kate Furnivall spins a tale of war, desperation,
and the discovery of love off the coast of Malaya.
Malaya, 1941. Connie Thornton plays her role as a
dutiful wife and mother without complaint. She is among the
fortunate after all-the British rubber plantation owners reaping
the benefits of the colonial life. But Connie feels as though she
is oppressed, crippled by boredom, sweltering heat, a loveless
marriage. . .
Then, in December, the Japanese invade. Connie and her family
flee, sailing south on their yacht toward Singapore, where the
British are certain to stand firm against the Japanese. En route,
in the company of friends, they learn that Singapore is already
under siege. Tensions mount, tempers flare, and the yacht''s
inhabitants are driven by fear.
Increasingly desperate and short of food, they are taken over by
a pirate craft and its Malayan crew making their perilous way from
island to island. When a fighter plane crashes into the sea, they
rescue its Japanese pilot. For Connie, that''s when everything
changes. In the suffocating confines of the boat with her life
upended, Connie discovers a new kind of freedom and a new,
dangerous, exhilarating love.