The House of Trembling Leaves - Tapa blanda

'A compelling novel about the power of female friendship, transcending war, time and separation.' --Rosy Thornton

'No one can accuse author Julian Lees of being a stick in the mud for story locations. His last book, The Fan Tan Players (2010) was set in Macau and now he s gone for a quadruple siting, taking us to Malaysia, Cambridge, Tibet and India in the comfort of our own homes and some superlative writing.' --The Bookbag

'No one can accuse author Julian Lees of being a stick in the mud for story locations. His last book, The Fan Tan Players (2010) was set in Macau and now he s gone for a quadruple siting, taking us to Malaysia, Cambridge, Tibet and India in the comfort of our own homes and some superlative writing.' --The Bookbag

'The array of colourful distinctive characters is what makes the story so engaging and powerful...it's an excellent read.' --Book Diva

'A rollicking wartime saga of pre-independence Malaysia.' --Metro

In 1936 Malaysia, Lu See is ordered to marry a fat, one-eyed banker whom she loathes. Instead, she flees the Juru river for Cambridge and the dream of becoming her country's first female undergraduate. When the dream dissolves in tragedy only her life-sustaining friendship with the Tibetan maid, Sum Sum, saves her; but then Sum Sum disappears, leaving a gift of unbearable poignancy. Returning to Malaya, Lu See survives the Japanese occupation and Communist insurgency but, as her life approaches its end, knows she must find Sum Sum and become reconciled once more. From Cambridge to Malaysia and a nunnery in the mountains of Tibet, The House of Trembling Leaves is the timeless story two mothers and a daughter, of war and survival, but most of all of an undying friendship.