Fergus Linehan's tale of life lived and love lost in Malaya during the twilight of British rule there contrasts the vivid colours, smells and sounds of the Far East with the claustrophobic dampness of rural Ireland - or rather, its grumpy narrator, Tim O'Hagan, does. An old man with little to do but mull over a life which has never quite satisfied him, Tim is something of a cold fish whose own son treats him with a stiff politeness. Yet he is also a man capable of a passionate love affair with a faraway place, his tragedy being that the place can never be truly his, nor Ireland an adequate substitute. This quiet, reflective novel is punctuated by the recurring Leitmotif of the dorian, a fruit considered by Malaysians to be a delicacy but which most Europeans find utterly repugnant. It is an apt metaphor for Tim O'Hagan's cultural dilemma and one which, like the character of O'Hagan himself, lingers in the mind long after the last page of the book has been turned.
