Empress of Asia: A Novel

By Adam Lewis Schroeder

Book Overview

"A sweeping epic story of heart-wrenching love and wartime adventure, "Empress of Asia "introduces a stunning young talent hailed as the next great Canadian writer" The year is 1942, and the world is engulfed by war. Young Canadian seaman Harry Winslow has just arrived in Singapore after the bombing of his ship, the "Empress of Asia." One night in the ravaged city, Harry meets and falls madly in love with a vivacious young Englishwoman named Lily. After a hasty marriage, they are separated during the confusion of an air raid. Harry begins a desperate search for Lily across the Dutch East Indies, enduring hunger, illness, and unimaginable cruelty before finally being reunited with his wife. Many years later, in Canada, Harry sits at Lily's bedside. In her dying moments, Lily reveals an astonishing secret: She gives him the address of Michel Ney, a man who saved Harry's life before being killed by the Japanese during the war--or so Harry had always believed. Can Lily be in contact with a man she never met, and why does she insist on Harry's reunion with him now? Fifty years later after the wartime events that changed his life forever, Harry travels to Thailand to begin the final adventure of his life--to retrace the journey of his Empress of Asia and to uncover the mystery that lies at the heart of the love of his life. A powerful story peopled with unforgettable characters, "Empress of Asia" is a stirring chronicle of love and loss, of loyalty and betrayal, amidst the turbulence of war.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312376405
• ISBN13: 9780312376406
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 1.4" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Singapore During WWII

"Empress of Asia" begins with protagonist, Harry Winslow, describing life as "bursts of activity that happen so quickly that we can't even tell exactly what's happening." In a sense, this story is Harry's description of his own life's "bursts of activity". Beginning in the late 1930's, Harry's adult life begins when he leaves home to work on boats. As World War II unfolds, Harry is inadvertently drawn eastward and into the heart of the Japanese war in and around Singapore. It is an exciting couple of years for an otherwise mild-mannered, unambitious man, who is far more motivated by really great jazz than political idealism and freedom from fascism. Shortly before she dies, at the very beginning of the book, Harry's wife Lily exhorts Harry to travel to Thailand in search of a long lost friend from the war. The book's story unfolds as Harry recollects these defining wartime years of his life. Harry is masterfully drawn as a painfully short-sighted Everyman drawn into extraordinary events. Encompassing an approximately seven-year stretch of time from about 1938 to 1945, it is primarily through the self-determination and ambition of others, that Harry goes where he goes and does what he does. Over and over, he is the hapless beneficiary of the ambition, courage, and cleverness of other people. The concluding section of the book finds the elderly Harry in Thailand following the trail of crumbs Lily left for him to find his old friend. What he untimately discovers rattles everything he thought about his life since the war. Despite his dramatic time in Asia, before and after, because of fear and prejudices, he has lived a limited, shuttered life. Thailand wakes him up. Had I a few less interruptions by my four kids, I would have gotten through "Empress of Asia" in two days instead of three. I stayed up late and woke up early to get in a few extra pages. Even days after finishing, I still have a palpable sense of the Malay Peninsula during World War II; that lesser known WWII arena of exotic heat, bugs, landscape, and people. "Empress of Asia" was originally published in Canada in 2006; March 2008 will be its debut in the United States. Schroeder is a Canadian poet of some repute, and as a reader, it is clear to me that he has a poet's ear for the cadence of narrative and dialogue. His story flows indelibly from page to page - it is a hard book to put down and pick up, not because the reading is difficult (it isn't), but because it is so utterly transporting. Schroeder's subtextual use of dialogue and foreign dialects is masterful. (Note: Though the book doesn't contain a glossary, there is a very good one on Schroeder's website that is worth referencing.) Schoeder's characters are refreshingly multifaceted - all have an authentic balance of strengths and weaknesses. Towards the end of the book, Harry discovers bowls of live snakes and turtles for sale in a Thai market, and makes this telling observation about the will to survive: "Of course the

fascinating look at the negative impact of war

Harry Winslow is stunned when his wife Lily on her death bed at St. Paul Hospital informs him that his French World War II buddy Michel Ney was still alive; Harry had thought Michel had died several years ago. She gives him an address and unanswered questions like how did she know this man whom he assumed she never met. His quest to meet up with the Frenchman who saved his life back in 1942 takes him to Kanchaburi Province, Thailand. On his quest Harry reflects back to his days as a Canadian marine in Singapore. He met, married and lost Lily there in one day when the Japanese invaded the island and captured him as a prisoner of war. He went to a Japanese prison camp where he met Michel. They became friends until the Japanese separated them. He later learned Michel died trying to escape internment. After the war ended, Harry finds Lily, freed form a women's prison, but she hid a dark disturbing secret from her husband. EMPRESS OF ASIA is a fascinating look at the negative impact of war on the lives of people even decades after the conflict is over. The story line is superb when it focuses on the three main characters in the present and during WW II. However, there is an overwhelming sense of place due to overwritten but picturesque descriptions of geography. Still filled with excitement, readers will appreciate Adam Lewis Schroeder's fine tale that armchair cheerleaders insisting the surge is working should read to understand the long term side effects of war on the soldiers (and their families). Harriet Klausner

Read this book. NOW.

Schroeder's second book is a very charming triumph: funny, moving, brave & kinda strange. An outstanding piece of work. Get it & dig it.