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Fragrant Harbor by John Lanchester Rating: ••• (Recommended)
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Refuge John Lanchester captures a slice of life in Hong Kong in his new novel, Fragrant Harbor. He introduces us to some characters who meet on the way to Hong Kong during the 1930s, and by the time we arrive in the modern city, we know some things, and not others about the lives of these fascinating people. Protagonist Tom Stewart finds a life-long home away from England as he makes a life as a hotel manager who never marries. He learns Cantonese on the boat to Hong Kong from Sister Maria, a missionary whose life crosses Tom’s often on the pages of Fragrant Harbor. Lanchester captures the culture, setting, money, power and contradictions of Hong Kong life during the Japanese occupation, post-war recovery, and stressful relations with the mainland. Here’s an excerpt: “The people from the Bank boat arrived in midafternoon, puffing a little from the climb. Most of the adults were Bank people and their wives. They were the usual mix of bluff happy ones and clever malcontents. Everyone smelled of sun cream and alcohol and salt water. Cooper’s daughters and their friends – it was hard to count them; I had an impression mainly of brown limbs and bathing jackets – went straight to the front of the house. ‘They’re trying to hypnotize each other,’ said Mrs. Cooper. ‘They’ve been at it all day.’ Ming was right about the arrest being a big scandal. My guests could speak of nothing else. Their talk had the usual triad note of horrified excitement. ‘It’s directly linked to the Riots,’ someone said. ‘They had to have a cleanup. There’ll be a big fuss and drama and some high-profile arrests, and then it’ll go back to business as usual.’ ‘Surely it’s no different from home, from the Kray twins or something,’ said another of the visitors. Cooper shifted round slightly in his seat and said, a little reluctantly. ‘There’s a but more to the triads than that. They aren’t just people waving choppers about. It starts off like that, small, but money always wants to turn legit. Has a mind of its own, almost. Chaps like Wo are very old fashioned now. They’re an embarrassment to the new chaps. Why make risky criminal money in drugs or gambling when you can make safe legal money in property? Of course drugs and girls and gambling and all that are good cash-flow businesses, but the future lies in looking as respectable as possible. No different from Jardines and all that lot, if you take a long enough view. Wo sent his son to Harvard. That’ll show you.’ Cooper looked at me, inviting me to tell my ‘I knew Wo when’ story. I silently declined. ‘Well, the trial should be quite something,’ one of the men said. ‘I do wonder what evidence they’ve got. I thought the whole point was that nobody ever spoke about anything.’ I remember thinking that was a good question. Conversation moved on to golf, and gossip about the governor’s wife.” Treat yourself to a well-told story, and a well-deserved trip to the Far East as you read Fragrant Harbor. Steve Hopkins, August 21, 2002
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