Set in London, Java, Sumatra, Penang, Malacca and Singapore, this historical novel
takes the form of two diaries of Sir Stamford Raffles’ two wives: Olivia and Sophia.
When Raffles sets sail from the cold, damp confines of Georgian London
to make his name and fortune in the tropics, he takes with him his new
wife, Olivia, a raffish beauty with a scandalous past. She infatuates both his
closest friend, a poet, and one of his bitterest rivals, a soldier. Raffles sees
what is going on, but he turns a blind eye – or so hopes Olivia.
After Olivia’s death, and back on leave in London, Raffles, a man once
again in need of a wife, makes a practical marriage. Sophia, no beauty, but
curious and intelligent, embraces the opportunity of an exciting life abroad.
Marriage brings her great joy but also great sadness. Her life with Raffles
becomes a catalogue of loss: of their children, of their possessions, of their
savings.
And all the while, Raffles, driven and talented, manoeuvres at the centre
of global networks of power, trade, politics and diplomacy. His scheming
culminates, to his eventual glory, with the founding of a new trading post:
Singapore.
