{"product_id":"murder-on-the-verandah-love-and-betrayal-in-british-malaya-9780006550655","title":"Murder on the Verandah: Love and Betrayal in British Malaya","description":"\u003cp\u003eA Malayan White Mischief. On Sunday  23 April 1911  Ethel Proudlock attended Mass at St Marys Church in Kuala Lumpur. She was well-liked at St Marys. She helped with jumble sales and had recently joined the choir. After Mass  the vicars wife invited her to lunch. But Mrs Proudlock declined. She had sewing to do. Then  taking her leave  she drove home and killed her lover. In the sensational trial that followed Ethel Proudlock  the Eurasian wife of an Englishman claimed that William Steward  a mine manager  had tried to rape her  but the evidence pointed to a passionate affair  and a murder inspired by jealousy. Found guilty and sentenced to death  she walked free after being pardoned by the Sultan of Selangor  much against the wishes of British officials. The event scandalized polite society  and revealed the suffocating nature of expatriate life in Malaya  where the British ruled with an unhealthy blend of suburban aspiration and gross insensitivity to the native population. Petty  hypocritical and terribly unhappy  the British never counted Malaya as home and spent their time wishing they werent there. Cheltenham on the Equator was rocked to its foundations by the dark  sordid nature of the trial. In this compelling work of social history Eric Lawlor examines Ethel Proudlocks case for the first time since the trial  and creates a disturbing portrait of this little-known outpost of Empire. There are qualities of Somerset Maugham (The Letter was based on the Proudlock trial) and Conrad (Heart of Darkness) in Eric Lawlors book.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45276627566645,"sku":"ByrdShop_0006550657","price":242.98,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780006550655.jpg?v=1780558533","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/murder-on-the-verandah-love-and-betrayal-in-british-malaya-9780006550655","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}