Philip Hutton George Town (the Hutton mansion)
Book 1
The lonely, in-between son of an English trading family and a Chinese mother, Philip belongs fully to neither world of George Town's layered society. The mansion and the port city, with their godowns, clubs and clan houses, are the home whose fate he will be forced to weigh against his loyalty to his Japanese teacher.
Book 1
explicit Philip grows up at his family's mansion in George Town, the real colonial capital of Penang, a Straits trading port of great mixed wealth; the specific house is invented and sited in the real town.
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Endo-san Endo-san's island
Book 1
On his rented island Endo-san drills Philip in the discipline, balance and philosophy of aiki-jutsu, and a deep bond of teacher and pupil, almost of destiny, forms between them. The island, reached by boat across the water, is the still centre of the book and, it emerges, a listening post for the coming invasion.
Book 1
inspired by The Japanese diplomat Endo-san rents a small island off the Penang coast, where he lives and teaches Philip the martial art of aiki-jutsu; the islet is drawn from the real islands in the strait off Penang.
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Noel Hutton Colonial George Town
Book 1
Noel Hutton and the English merchant class carry on their trade and their clubs in a Penang they believe is theirs and safe, blind to how soon it will fall. The confident colonial town, seen just before the catastrophe, sharpens the tragedy of what the Japanese occupation will do to the Huttons and the island.
Book 1
explicit The colonial society of the port, its trading houses and grand hotels such as the Eastern & Oriental, is the world of Philip's father Noel Hutton; sited in the real George Town of the interwar years.
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