Overview

Before Raffles, before Rajah Brooke, there was Francis Light, the 18th-century trailblazer in the Malay Archipelago. The 18th-century Straits of Malacca is in crisis, beleaguered by the Dutch, the Bugis, and the clash between Siam and Burma. Enter Francis Light, devious manipulator of the status quo, joined by a cast of real historical figures from the courts of Siam and Kedah and from the East India Company, including Sultan Muhammed Jiwa, King Tak Sin, Warren Hastings and Martinha Rozells, a young Eurasian woman of noble birth. From humble origins in Suffolk, England, Light struggles against the social prejudices of his day. His subsequent adventures as a naval officer and country ship captain take him from India to Sumatra, the Straits of Malacca to Siam, through shipwreck, sea battles, pirate raids and tropical disease. But Light's most difficult challenge is his ultimate dream: to establish a British port in the Indies on behalf of the East India Company. Dragon, the first volume of Penang Chronicles, charts Francis Light's colourful adventures in the decades before the settlement of Penang island, the Honourable Company's first possession on the Malay Peninsula.

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9781912049882

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Reviews

At last, a novel which engages a crucial and fascinating period of British merchant imperialism and Southeast Asian history. The Straits, meeting place of Malays, Bugis and Siamese, here too are freebooting English and a more staid company in Calcutta. Here are mixed marriages, innumerable cross currents with the Dutch in Java and Sumatra, Chinese and Tamil traders, Achenese sultans and a Burma too close for comfort. And in the middle of it all is Francis Light, founder of modern Penang, a man of his times and of history. Britons today are woefully ignorant of the legacy of maritime Southeast Asia in which they played such a key role. This novel is a good start to re-engagement with this region, a meeting place of races, religions and cultures.'--Philip Bowring, Author of Empire of the Winds Deeply researched and beautifully written, Dragon convincingly evokes the East of the period.--Nigel Barley, Author Dragon is a rare example of writing about the important country trade that existed alongside of the East India Company and, since 1661, increasingly independent of it. Rose Gan's well-crafted narrative has clearly been written following extensive historical research. Francis Light arrived with high hopes of being accepted into the Company but the circumstances of his birth, past actions and injudicious decisions resulted in him joining the growing community of Englishmen settled in the ports of the East Indies determined to take their opportunities wherever offered. After finally burning the last of his Company bridges, the opportunity Francis is about to grasp was the unspoilt island of Pulau Pinang.--Sue Paul, author of Jeopardy of Every Wind: the biography of Captain Thomas Bowrey Having founded the British colony of Penang in 1786, Francis Light is a well-known historical figure found in Malaysia's history books. However, little is known about his early years. Rose Gan, in this fascinating and well-researched novel, skilfully provides the reader with a colourful illustration to the early life and times of Light and those historically connected to him. The author cleverly unveils Light's rise to the rank of captain and his travels to this part of the world while meeting the people who would set the stage for his lustrous future. This serves as a prelude to more important events that destiny has in store for Light.--Dennis De Witt, author of History of the Dutch in Malaysia

Author Information

British by birth, Rose Gan first arrived in Kuala Lumpur in 1978 and has been living and working between both UK and South East Asia ever since. Married to a Malaysian, and formerly a teacher of History and Latin in UK and Malaysia, Rose was also Vice Chair for Museums of the Indonesian Heritage Society, a guide and docent in Museum National Indonesia, Jakarta, and Muzium Negara and the Textile Museum in KL. In addition to lecturing to cultural associations, Rose has been actively involved with museum publications in Malaysia and Indonesia, both as a writer and editor.

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