The Consul's File

The Consul records his stint in Ayer Hitam through a sequence of tales in which he is both observer and participant. As his intimacy with the town grows, so does his motley cast of Asians and exiles: the son of a Cantonese cafe owner, dreaming of a Fuibright one day and a movie contract the next; Margaret Harbottle, writer of travelogues and freeloader extraordinary; an American ingenue dubbed "The Flower of Malaysia," who flirts with local mores and gets more than she bargained for.