The plot has many twists and turns, and shifts forwards and backwards in time. This is the real thing, and it is compelling, has depth, and it is exciting to read. I was critical as I read it, looking for mistakes and anachronisms and poor language. He is obviously a fascinatingly multi-cultural person – but aside from that, just judging by the novel alone, he is a really fine writer. Tan Twan Eng, born 1972 – handsome man, isn’t he? (Photograph by Andries Buys) He’s a bit like a literary Charlize Theron – South Africans tend to forget he is a global citizen, and think of him as their national icon. A former intellectual property lawyer, he began writing his debut novel The Gift of Rain (2007) while studying for a master’s degree in law at the University of Cape Town.Īnd now he is a cause célèbre in South Africa, speaking at book festivals and being seen as a “local boy” – which he is, by adopted heritage, I guess. He studied in London, UK, and also in Cape Town, South Africa. Tan Twan Eng was born in Penang, Malaysia in 1972, and grew up in Kuala Lumpur. And the he certainly has the background to write a novel with such so many interconnected themes. The Garden of Evening Mists is about a Malaysian woman attempting to build a Japanese garden next door to a tea estate owned by a veteran of the Second Boer War.
And he divides his time between Kuala Lumpur and Cape Town. TAN Twan Eng (Chinese: 陳團英) is the author’s real name, and his surname is Tan, not Eng. I was suspicious of the credentials of the author and the quality of his writing since the subject and setting looked both exotic and unlikely, but I was wrong again. Copies of The Canons edition from publisher Canongate+Myrmidon of The Garden of Evening Mists.
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