TASH AW
The Harmony Silk Factory

Copyright

Fourth Estate

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.4thestate.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate 2005

Copyright © Tash Aw 2005

PS section copyright © Louise Tucker 2005, except

‘Shortbread in Malaysia’ by Tash Aw © Tash Aw 2005

Cover credit © Jack Smyth; Heands photograph © Nathan Dumalo / Unsplash; Leaf © Shutterstock

Tash Aw asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007232284

Ebook Edition © MAY 2012 ISBN 9780007303151

Version: 2019-02-19

Praise

From the reviews of The Harmony Silk Factory:

‘Beguiling … The vice-like grip of the dead, the paper-thin ties of the living: many compelling themes are braided into this original, haunting novel. Aw picks at the knots in relationships, and in Malaysia’s history, to unravel strands of illumination. Yet there are several loose ends from which readers must spin their own stories. It is these frayed seams, these broken ties – the constant clutching after, yet eluding of connection – that exert the most powerful emotional pull’

Independent

‘Absorbing … a rich, intense novel … The strength of Tash Aw’s writing can be seen in the three narratives. Each voice is distinct and each offers a subtly different viewpoint, remaking the material afresh … The beauty and danger of nature are everywhere in this delicately drawn novel’

TLS

‘Bewitchingly written and gracefully assured … The story Aw tells is mercilessly gripping and his prose is lucid, uncluttered, beautiful … Aw orchestrates a graceful ballet of dissonances and congruences, of echoes and discords’

NEEL MUKHERJEE, The Times

‘This is a serious, gripping, ambitious first novel … Aw knows the route to a reader’s mind – first, through the ear – through whispered disclosures of the heart … The messy menage of jealousies and fatalistic fears is superbly accrued … Here, in this novel where so much is told, but at an angle, and more is concealed, the truth is a chimera, a character in itself. In less gifted hands it would all have imploded. But Tash Aw sings it like a chorus, in perfect pitch, in a book to be prized’

TOM ADAIR, Scotsman

‘This book begins with such brio that Tash Aw’s second outing will be eagerly awaited’

MAGGIE GEE, Sunday Times

‘Tash Aw’s striking debut is as elusive as it is exotic. Beginning in playful and indeed almost picaresque mood, The Harmony Silk Factory evolves into a novel of quiet regret and long suppressed pain. Its three narrators speak with distinctive and compelling voices. Aw is a skilled and sensitive writer’

Daily Mail

‘A suspense-laden colonial saga set in Thirties and Forties Malaysia, full of English Patient-style riffs’

Tatler

‘He writes with what seems like effortless fluidity’

ALFRED HICKLING, Guardian

‘A novel that metamorphoses seamlessly from quest to confession’

HEPHZIBAH ANDERSON, Observer

‘This beautifully constructed debut novel melds different narratives as it looks back through time … Author Tash Aw writes with an assurance that belies his 29 years. His prose is clear and descriptive, yet it changes deftly in character as the narrative view changes’

Sunday Business Post

Dedication

For my parents

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise

Dedication

Part One: Johnny

Part Two: 1941

Part Three: The Garden

About the Author

Keep Reading …

By the Same Author

About the Publisher

PART ONE Johnny

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