Breaking the Tongue: A Novel

This brilliant novel chronicles the fall of Singapore to the Japanese in the story of one Chinese family: Claude, raised to be more British than the British; his father, whose Anglophilia blinds him to impending defeat and his wife's dalliances; and the redoubtable Grandma Siok, whose sage advice falls on deaf ears.  Expatriates, spies, fifth columnists, and nationalists mingle as the Japanese threat looms.  Beset by the horror of war, betrayal, and, finally, torture, Claude must embrace his true heritage.