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The Penang Collection

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The Penang Collection

By: Clare Flynn
Narrated by: Victoria Riley
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About this listen

Three powerful novels from a prize-winning storyteller

Set before, during, and after World War 2 on the beautiful Far Eastern island of Penang, these books and their memorable characters will keep you up all night listening.

The Pearl of Penang - Evie's Story

Winner of the 2020 BookBrunch Selfies award for Adult Fiction

In 1939, lonely and without prospects, Evie Fraser accepts a marriage proposal by post from a man she barely knows. Evie leaves her quiet English village for a new life on the exotic tropical island of Penang. Soon she finds herself pitched against her new husband on the one hand and the shallow spiteful world of the expatriate British on the other. Has she made a terrible life-changing mistake?

Prisoner from Penang - Mary's Story

In late 1941, when the Japanese attack Penang, Mary Helston flees to the safe haven of Singapore, only for it to fall within weeks. Imprisoned by the Japanese on the nearby islands of Sumatra, Mary and her fellow women internees begin a desperate struggle for survival. But it's not only the Japanese and starvation that Mary is up against, as with her in the camp is the one woman Mary has good cause to loathe with a passion.

A Painter in Penang - Jasmine's Story

The war is over and Evie's unhappy step daughter, Jasmine, is desperate to return to the island of Penang where she grew up. When Mary, Evie's best friend, offers to host Jasmine, the 16-year-old is over the moon. As Jasmine settles into her new life, enjoying her painting, communist surgents begin the reign of terror that becomes the Malayan Emergency. Before long, Jasmine is drawn into a world of danger and secrets from the past that will force her to grow up faster than she had expected.

©2019 Clare Flynn (P)2020 Clare Flynn Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction War & Military Marriage Singapore

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All stars
Most relevant
Having lived in Malaysia for three years in the mid 80s, working for the Australian high commission in KL, there was still much talk about the Japanese occupation and the communist rebels living in the forests/jungle.

I loved reading this book to learn a little more about that era and some of the experiences, and I could clearly visualise so many scenes, due to having visited those places very often during my time there. I really loved that Alec of these tales.

There were a few mispronunciations of Malay words and regions, like “amah” and “Selangor”, which really surprised me, and was a little offering when the words were used quite a lot. I would’ve thought any narrator would really do their research on pronunciations of foreign words included in any book. A slightly better pronunciation of amah occurred by the third book but it was still not quite right with the intonation and where the emphasis was placed within the word.

I also felt some of the responses at times were not terribly realistic with regard to how someone would respond in such moments. I’m a clinical psychologist who has worked with grief and trauma for many years, so perhaps I’m a little more acutely aware of such nuances. Occasionally the responses didn’t to me fit the situation, and seemed quite odd.

That said though, the stories were great! I thoroughly enjoyed the journey and getting to know all the characters.

Loved the Malaysian and Japanese occupation backdrop

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I enjoyed these books. I lived in Malaysia for 22 years and knew Penang very well and this book took me back with details of some of the places that are still there today.

Sad and haunting

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The narrator Victorias voice was grating & sometime hard to listen to but the probable very true Atrocities of Japanese war crimes I’ve got used to tolerating the narration

Emotional life story

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Passes the time. Good descriptions of Penang, but poor character development and predictable relationships - a lot of telling and not showing. Did not find any of the romances credible and found them a bit creepy.

Clichéd

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