!P.D.F D.o.w.n.l.o.a.d The Gift of Rain: A Novel

The recipient of extraordinary acclaim from critics and the bookselling community, Tan Twan Eng's debut novel casts a powerful spell and has garnered comparisons to celebrated wartime storytellers Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene. <br /><br />Set during the tumult of World War II, on the lush Malayan island of Penang, <i>The Gift of Rain</i> tells a riveting and poignant tale about a young man caught in the tangle of wartime loyalties and deceits.<br /><br />In 1939, sixteen-year-old Philip Hutton-the half-Chinese, half-English youngest child of the head of one of Penang's great trading families-feels alienated from both the Chinese and British communities. He at last discovers a sense of belonging in his unexpected friendship with Hayato Endo, a Japanese diplomat. Philip proudly shows his new friend around his adored island, and in return Endo teaches him about Japanese language and culture and trains him in the art and discipline of aikido. But such knowledge comes at a terrible pr