Book Recommendations

The Garden of Evening Mists

By Tan Twan Eng

Fiction, General, Historical | 352 pages
1 recommendation

A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK
AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE
WINNER OF THE MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE AND THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE


Teoh Yun Ling was seventeen years old when she first heard about Aritomo and the garden. But a war would come to Malaya, and a decade pass before she would travel to see him. A man of extraordinary skill and reputation, Aritomo was once the gardener for the Emperor of Japan, and now Yun Ling needs him. She needs him to help her build a memorial to her beloved sister, killed at the hands of the Japanese. She wants to learn everything Aritomo can teach her, and do her sister proud, but to do so she must also begin a journey into her own past, a past inextricably linked with the secrets of her troubled country.

A story of art, war, love and memory, The Garden of Evening Mists captures a dark moment in history with richness, power and incredible beauty.

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Jean Hatton
13th Nov 2024
"This is the most marvellous book and one of my favourites by a Booker Prize winning author. The novel is set in post war Malaysia and centres around a garden that was created by Nakamura Aritomo, man who was once gardener to the Emporer of Japan. Teoh Yun Ling, a recently retired judge, who was herself a prisoner of war of the Japanese, asks Aritomo to create a garden in memory of sister who died in the Japanese prison camps. Aritomo refuses to create the garden but takes Yun Ling to be his apprentice. Yun Ling begins her journey with Aritomo as another war rages around her, the Malayan Emergency, and as she begins her work in the garden she delves deep into memories long buried and discovers hidden depths and remarkable stories among former enemies and old friends alike ..."