Although this autobiographical tale is fiction (perhaps faction), it opens many windows onto life's realities in 20th century Malaya -- during British colonial rule, the Japanese Occupation, and under the Communist Emergency -- leading to the birth of independent Malaysia. An immigrant coolie from Amoy, Tan Boon Cheng, arrives in Penang and through many vicissitudes, becomes a respected banker. Years later, from a bed in the Little Sisters of the Poor old age home, he looks back on a life riven by family strife, sorcery, betrayal, kidnapping and greed.