The White Pearl

by Kate Furnivall

First published 2012

Amazon

4.0(4,526)

Malaya, 1941. Connie Hadley lives on a British rubber plantation with her husband and son, outwardly secure within the privileges of colonial society while carrying secrets that have already damaged her marriage. A fatal road accident deepens her guilt just as the wider world closes in: after Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces invade Malaya and the assumptions of British security collapse almost overnight.

Connie gathers family and friends aboard the yacht White Pearl and attempts to escape towards Singapore. Shortages, fear and the rapid Japanese advance make the voyage increasingly dangerous, while old relationships fracture under pressure and new loyalties emerge. The novel combines domestic secrets with the Malayan Campaign, using the confined world of the yacht to show how war strips away the social certainties of the pre-war colonial order.