Flora is convalescing in her English boarding school, suffering from ‘nervous exhaustion’ following her University entrance exams. She is bored and to pass the time she starts to write down the story of a time when she was much younger and living in the tropical paradise of Jesselton in North Borneo.

Gradually, memories of this time come back and we are transported with her to the vivid, colourful environment she lived in as a 10 year old. Flora was rather timid at 10, alarmed by snakes and insects and unable to keep up with the physical exploits of the other children. She did not make friends easily and then, as she does as an 18 year old, she finds an escape in writing because writing made her feel powerful- ‘ I could make things happen. I could invent places and people. I could make them as wicked, nasty and frightening as I liked without danger to myself..’. In Jesselton she was intrigued by the stories about a nearby deserted house, which was said by the other children to be haunted, and by the people who once lived there. It is around this house and what she discovers that the ‘story’ in Flora’s memories revolves.

This is a very gentle, captivating book which evokes beautifully a past time and an exotic place with British ex-patriots in an outpost of the Empire. One has the feeling that this could be Adele Geras’ own story. It is a book which would appeal to older girls , especially if they enjoy writing about their own lives.

2007-12-31