Susan Barker was born in London in 1978 to a Chinese Malaysian mother and an English father. Aged twenty-five, she completed the acclaimed novel Sayonara Bar ('Funny, crisply written and engaging' Times), followed by The Orientalist and the Ghost ('Sharp and original' Guardian). While writing her third novel The Incarnations she spent several years living in Beijing, researching modern and ancient China. She is currently based in Shenzhen, China.

Malaya, 1951. Christopher Milnar falls passionately in love with Chinese nurse Evangeline in a jungle resettlement camp - an affair that ends in tragedy when, under attack from Communist guerrillas, he is betrayed, beaten and left for dead.
Half a century later the ghosts of that time return to haunt him, triggering vivid memories of colonial misconduct and lost love. Forced to confront his past, Christopher agonises over the fate of Evangeline, and the mysterious disappearance of his teenage daughter Frances in Kuala Lumpur, 1969. Until his grandson Adam embarks on a quest to piece together the fragments of a family torn apart.
Moving from present day London to the heart of the Malayan jungle, The Orientalist and The Ghost is an epic tale of human frailty and the ghosts that haunt a family from one generation to the next.

Praise for SAYONARA BAR:

'Highly original ... A major achievement by an exciting new author' Independent

'A beautifully written and far-reaching exploration of Japanese culture' Books of the Year, Independent on Sunday

9780552772419

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