by Jane Gardam
First published 2006
Sir Edward Feathers sits in his Dorset home, a retired judge whose distinguished career masks a fractured past. Born in colonial Malaya, he was shipped to Wales as a child when his parents could no longer care for him. These "Raj orphans" learned early that survival meant emotional armor. Edward built his carefully, progressing from uncertain young barrister to successful expatriate lawyer to respected judge. His marriage and professional achievements created a life of comfort and status. Yet in his final years, the weight of displacement haunts him. The boy torn from tropical heat and thrust into Welsh cold never fully healed. Edward's story spans decades of the twentieth century, from the dying days of empire through world wars to modern Britain. His personal history mirrors the larger collapse of the colonial world that shaped him. This is a story about the price of reinvention and the ghosts that wealth and success cannot quiet.
Genres: 20th-century, adult-fiction, british-literature, biographical-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, reinvention
Setting: Malaya, Wales, Dorset, Britain
Period: 20th Century
260 pages · Paperback · Europa Editions