Letters From Thailand

This novel won the SEATO international prize for literature in 1970. It is also the first ever published in translation from Thai. Tan Suang U writes these 'letters' to his mother in China over a period of more than twenty years, from his arrival in Bangkok in 1945, with nothing but his traditional education. We see him marry, grow rich, rise to an honorable position and then suffer disaster through his inability to understand his family and the changes in the society in which he lives. We follow, in fascinating detail, the busy lives of a merchant family in the Chinese community of Bangkok. Botan's style is light, lively and very readable and the work is remarkable for its comments on modern Thai society and the Bangkok social scene. Susan Fulop has, through her admirable translation, rendered great service both to Thai literature and to readers of English by making a remarkable book available to a wider audience.