The devil's garden
By: Nigel Barley
Publisher: Monsoon
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Singapore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 254
ISBN-13: 9789814358422; 9789814358439
Other titles: Love and war in Singapore under the Japanese flag
Description: Gardens are magical places -- images of Nature and Culture, models of paradise, spaces where plants live in war and peace, co-operation and competition. It is 1942 and Singapore is Syonanto, part of the Japanese Empire, where violence and starvation stalk the streets but in the Singapore Botanic Gardens a bizarre tranquillity reigns between warring nations and even love awakes as old identities melt away in the heady atmosphere of the Orchid House. From its unique perspective and with a mixture of humour and romance, this book pictures a formative moment in the emergence of Singapore, where loyalties are less secure than those of the official histories and truth is anything but simple.
Notes: Novel.