Sasek was instructing the child about the adult’s world, as much as capturing things of immediate interest to the child. In his new novel Fragrant Harbour John Lanchester, as in his previous books, shows an impressionist's gift for adopting different voices for his narrator. At the onset of the communist coup in 1948, aged 32, Sasek left Prague for Munich, where from 1951-57 he worked for Radio Free Europe. The title is a translation of "Hong Kong", and most of the story takes place in that territory, while it was still a colony.

The result is a novel that proves he is among our most versatile and talented contemporary novelists. It would have worked equally well told entirely through Tom’s eyes without cluttering it up with Dawn’s and Matthew’s voices as well. Lanchester's main character, Tom Stewart, is a Kentish lad who journeys to the exotic Far East in 1935, just as the commercial prospects of Hong Kong are becoming apparent. There’s the ‘adult’s’ public house, the place of historical importance, the stations and architecture of an adult’s world.Dawn Stone is an English journalist who becomes the public face of money and power and big business. Faber Members get access to live and online author events and receive regular e-newsletters with book previews, promotional offers, articles and quizzes.

If the print comes mounted we use an archival ph neutral white core mount which does not fade over time. It has a lot to say about the devotion to money and how this effects ethics and behaviour without moralising.

Spowers trained at the Melbourne National Gallery Art School (1911-17) and gained a reputation for black and white children’s story illustrations. Tom Stewart, son of a Kentish publican, decides to try his luck in Hong Kong, and on the long voyage meets a beautiful nun who teaches him Cantonese. I read this (on my wonderful Kindle) while in Hong Kong, and although it's not necessary to be there to read it, the book really came alive for me. Visit the genteel colonial centre, including the long-gone Hong Kong Club; explore the waterfront streets around Wan Chai and Causeway Bay, before the major land reclamations of the 60s and 70s pushed them inland.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.When she heads off to a lucrative magazine post in Hong Kong, we hope the cynic will be eaten by bigger dogs; but as we had feared, she settles in to suck their bones. Sasek wrote short, laconic sentences almost as captions or legends to attach to these illustrations, sentences the directness of which mimic the tones of an adult instructing a wide-eyed and interested child.