Where the Rainbow Ends

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Compulsively readable, beautifully crafted, this novel, by the author of The Killing Fields, is both a gripping war story and a splendid evocation of the waning glories of British colonialism. In the autumn of 1941, Guy Tancred, a young, somewhat priggish investment advisor, is sent from the London office of Dunlop Orient to Ceylon to oversee and protect the company's rubber plantations, one of which is owned by his older brother. Soon it is Guy himself who appears to be in need of protection. When the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and capture Singapore, he becomes embroiled in anti-espionage activities, conceives a hopeless passion for his brother's wife and bears witness to the bombing of the island itselfan act that is to hasten the end of British dominance in the region. While its cast of characters may seem overly familiar to readers of ``Empire'' literature, Ceylon, a place that Ovid called ``the last outpost of the civilized world'' is memorably portrayed. (July 15)

Library Journal

Arriving in Ceylon on the eve of Pearl Harbor to monitor the rubber production so vital to the war, Dunlop's war-weary representative Guy Tancred is astounded at the ``colonials' '' provincialism and lack of interest in the world conflict. This indifference is not long-lived, as the Japanese military forces, having overrun Hong Kong and Singapore, are now steaming toward the island. Though Guy is the nominal major character, it is the waning British Empire, its planters, civil servants, soldiers, and subjects, captured in a series of loosely connected vignettes, that is the true protagonist. For fans of the British raj.Cynthia Johnson Whealler, Cary Memorial Lib., Lexington, Mass.

From Barnes & Noble

This novel captures the essence of the British Empire and its dying days in Ceylon during WWII. Sent to Ceylon on what he expects to be a routine mission, Guy Tancred finds himself involved with his brother's wife and a spy operation.