The Consul's File

About this book

Award-winning writer Paul Theroux takes us on a journey through small town Malaysia through the eyes of the exuberant Spencer Savage in his breathtaking novel The Consuls File. Spencer Savage a young American consul is posted to Ayer Hitam a small Malaysian town in the 1970s. Told to close down this remote outpost in the sweltering jungle he instead finds himself drawn to the many characters he meets among the Malays Indians Japanese Chinese and the clubbable expat Brits.Through his eyes we see the rich tapestry of multi-ethnic life in post-colonial Malaysia from adultery to murder from ghost stories to the murky waters of diplomatic politics. It is a brilliant portrait of a vanished time a lost landscape and scattered peoples.A cool and witty sequence. . . a polished and professional performance GuardianTherouxs writing is at its most adventurous in The Consuls File. There is no book I can compare this to: Mr Therouxs artistry is individual serene yet also grainy with fierce truths The TimesAmerican travel writer Paul Theroux is known for the rich descriptions of people and places that is often streaked with his distinctive sense of irony; his novels and collected short stories My Other Life The Collected Stories My Secret History The Lower River The Stranger at the Palazzo dOro A Dead Hand Millroy the Magician The Elephanta Suite Saint Jack The Family Arsenal The Mosquito Coast and his works of non-fiction including the iconic The Great Railway Bazaar are available from Penguin. Award-winning writer Paul Theroux takes us on a journey through small town Malaysia through the eyes of the exuberant Spencer Savage in his breathtaking novel The Consuls File. Spencer Savage a young American consul is posted to Ayer Hitam a small Malaysian town in the 1970s. Told to close down this remote outpost in the sweltering jungle he instead finds himself drawn to the many characters he meets among the Malays Indians Japanese Chinese and the clubbable expat Brits.Through his eyes we see the rich tapestry of multi-ethnic life in post-colonial Malaysia from adultery to murder from ghost stories to the murky waters of diplomatic politics. It is a brilliant portrait of a vanished time a lost landscape and scattered peoples.A cool and witty sequence. . . a polished and professional performance GuardianTherouxs writing is at its most adventurous in The Consuls File. There is no book I can compare this to: Mr Therouxs artistry is individual serene yet also grainy with fierce truths The TimesAmerican travel writer Paul Theroux is known for the rich descriptions of people and places that is often streaked with his distinctive sense of irony; his novels and collected short stories My Other Life The Collected Stories My Secret History The Lower River The Stranger at the Palazzo dOro A Dead Hand Millroy the Magician The Elephanta Suite Saint Jack The Family Arsenal The Mosquito Coast and his works of non-fiction including the iconic The Great Railway Bazaar are available from Penguin.