''The Harmony Silk Factory'' (2005) is

Tash Aw Tash Aw , whose full name is Aw Ta-Shi (; born 4 October 1971) is a Malaysian writer living in London. Biography Born in 1971 in Taipei, Taiwan, to Malaysians, Malaysian parents, Tash Aw returned to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, at the age of two, ...

's critically acclaimed first novel, set in 1940s British-ruled Malaya, which is now called

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. It was longlisted for the

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

, and won the Whitbread Book Awards for First Novel Award. The novel incorporates some historical events, and its characters may temporarily take the roles of real people, for example Johnny Lim acts as

Lai Teck Lai Teck (real name Phạm Văn Đắc or Hoang A Nhac; 1901–1947) was a leader of the Communist Party of Malaya and Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army. A person of mixed Sino-Vietnamese descent, prior to his arrival in Malaya, Lai Teck w ...

in the

Batu Caves Batu Caves is a 325-m tall mogote with a series of limestone caves in Gombak, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located about north of the capital city of Kuala Lumpur. The cave complex contains many Hindu temples, the most popular of which is a shri ...

massacre, though there is otherwise little similarity between them.

Synopsis

Between the wars, Johnny Lim becomes a successful businessman running Tiger Tan’s textile shop in Kampar, a town near Ipoh in the tin-mining Kinta Valley of Malaysia. He marries Snow Soong, the beautiful daughter of TK Soong, the richest man in the valley. They go on a belated honeymoon to the mysterious Seven Maidens islands. Accompanying them are Kunichika Mamoru, a Japanese academic, who will become head of the Kempeitai, the secret police, during the Japanese occupation; Peter Wormwood, an English drifter who has become Johnny’s friend and confidante; and Frederick Honey, a tin mine manager. Later, the shop burns down, and Johnny opens the Harmony Silk Factory, which does very well during the occupation and after. In 1942, Snow dies giving birth to her son, Jasper. The novel is narrated in three overlapping sections. First, Jasper tells what he knows of his father’s life. Then we read extracts from Snow’s diary, which was handed to Jasper at his father’s funeral. In the third, Peter is now old and living in a care home. He remembers his friendship with Johnny, and what happened on the trip to the Seven Maidens, where he swiped Snow’s diary.

Reception

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is ...

called ''The Harmony Silk Factory'' "an impressive contribution to a literature for which Conrad and Maugham are famous".

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

said the book was "a little rough and transparent in places", but that Aw "writes with what seems like effortless fluidity".

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

wrote that Aw "produced a tale of love and betrayal that transcends mere location".

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

also reviewed the book, writing "Aw's prose, though often witty and taut, is not equally convincing in all its guises".THE HARMONY SILK FACTORY
Publishers Weekly

References

Novels by Tash Aw 2005 British novels English novels Historical novels Novels set in the 1940s Novels set in Malaysia Malaysian novels English-language novels 2005 debut novels HarperCollins books {{2000s-hist-novel-stub