Penang, 1939. The young Philip Hutton, half Chinese, half English, meets a Japanese man who will be his Aikido teacher, who shares tons of wisdom and who loves him unconditionally. Philip shows him his homeland and Tan Twan Eng is able to captivate Malaysia‘s smells, images and aromas masterfully. Then Japan invades Malaysia and the story becomes one about divided loyalties, betrayal, courage, cruelty and forgiveness. I loved it.