The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng (Myrmidon Books)As a lawyer in the country then known as Malaya, Teoh Yun Ling helps to prosecute Japanese war criminals after the Second World War.
Searching out evidence and watching justice take its course is especially satisfying for her, because of her personal history.
Incarcerated in a concentration camp, Yun Ling saw her sister repeatedly gang raped, and herself suffered violence and abuse.
The sisters’ greatest escape was to remember in every exquisite detail the beautiful Japanese gardens they had seen together.
Talking about the perfect shapes, light and contrast of the gardens lifted their minds out of the horror around them.
But when the war ends, Yun Ling is left to mourn her sister, and try to rebuild her life in Kuala Lumpur. Eventually she realises she won’t find peace until she is able to create a garden in remembrance of her sister.
She approaches Nakamura Aritomo, once the emperor’s gardener, now a quiet and mysterious figure building a beautiful Japanese garden among the tea plantations in the hills. But Aritomo refuses to create the garden – instead he offers her an apprenticeship, to learn for herself the subtle art which has made his gardens famous.
As the garden takes shape, so does a deep bond between these two people, and Yun Ling begins to find some healing. But too soon political strife again challenges her fragile peace.
Woven through with richly researched detail about gardens, Japanese art, Chinese culture and the history of Malaysia, The Garden of Evening Mists follows a careful constructed path of twists and turns, each offering a fresh perspective.
The passion of its protagonists – made all the more so by all that is left unspoken – offers both a fresh hope for shattered lives, and the sad truth that no love can totally wipe away the horror of war.
Women24
