A few weeks ago, customer Gidge told us about a book that another indie bookseller in St. Simon’s Island can’t get enough of: The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng. Always seeking out books that don’t stay on the shelf, I ordered a couple of copies, took it home, and read it. It’s true: this is one I can’t wait to hand sell. In the right hands, it will be a powerful read.
Our shelves are filled with unique and powerful WWII stories (Suite Francaise, Sarah’s Key, Guernsey Literary…) and yet this one has managed to tell a new story. The Eastern Front is certainly less familiar to most of us than the oft-covered Western Front and perhaps that’s what drew me in.
Our narrator Philip is a half-Chinese, half-British Malay islander. When Philip’s British family leaves to spend a few months in England, Philip stays behind and develops a strong bond with his Japanese sensei, Endo-San. As the war breaks out and the Japanese take over the island, Philip is caught in a tangled web of wartime loyalties. In the end, we’re left with a character that’s both a hero and a villain.
Rain offers readers an appreciation of the complexities of a multi-cultural society at war. It poignantly unpacks both the strength and frailty of family in a setting you’ll want to drink in.