A memoir of youth in Henan province and the liberating power of the pen, by a prolific Chinese writer still relatively little known in this country, despite a festoon of international prizes... read more
Tokyo, an astonishly good cook and multiple murders. This is not a who-dunnit but a why-dunnit - and there is much to savour, both malicious and delicious.
A strange and magical memoir of growing up in prosaic England with Anglo-Burmese parentage. Teak trees interweave oaks; myth and imagery chase each other through the author's odyssey through... read more
The tricky business of merging the inner world with the outer - a balancing act that the generous Iyer has been practising for decades now, in Tibet, Japan, Korea, Iran and elsewhere.
A wander through the city's various districts by one of Korea's foremost architects: his love of old Seoul, with its low-rise neighbourhoods and narrow streets, is palpable.The Korean taste ... read more
A narrative account of the rise of the Asian city state by the FT's former Singapore correspondent, exploring both its extraordinary economic development and the authoritarian bent of its le... read more
Ressa, CEO of the Phillipine's top digital news site, jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for her efforts to "safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and... read more
Somerset Maugham appears as one of two narrators in this atmospheric novel of love, truth, secrecy and betrayal in 1920s' colonial Penang. Eng's airy storytelling is a rare gift: he gives hi... read more
The 60 years following the Portuguese arrival in the Moluccas in 1511 saw an epic global struggle for the sources and distribution of this new geyser of wealth. Told with verve and authority... read more