- Published: 01/09/2011
- ISBN: 9781846274060
- Granta Books
- 352 pages
The Tea Lords
Hella S. Haasse
Translated by Ina Rilke
Born into wealth and privilege, Rudolf Kerkhoven is destined to follow his father’s footsteps into the Dutch colonies, with its uncleared jungle foothills and potential for riches. When he arrives in Java he is immediately smitten by the landscape and the life, and over the seasons, Rudolf’s dedication and diligence gradually transform the land into a productive estate for tea, coffee and quinine. When he meets the independent-minded Jenny and their two sons are born, Rudolf is happier than he thought possible. But for Jenny, the damp austerity of their home, her fertility, her father’s secret, and the native spirits of the land grow to overshadow their marriage and the life they’ve strived for together.
Lusciously atmospheric and masterfully drawn, this is an unforgettable story of aspiration, determination, rivalry and romance on a tropical plantation.
£8.99
A graceful, marvellously achieved improvisation that only a novelist of the greatest imagination and sympathy could have written
Julian Evans, Guardian
Put it at the top of your reading list
Stylist
Haasse has created a compelling piece of innovative historical fiction ... [She] effortlessly combines an evocation of the plantation's heady, lush vegetation with her articulation of the growing distance between man and wife. And her aptly chosen metaphors are all skillfully conveyed in Ina Rilke's translation
Sunday Times
From the Same Author
The Black Lake
Hella S. Haasse, translated by Ina Rilke
Amid the lush abundance of Java’s landscape, two boys spend their days exploring the vast lakes and teeming forests. But as time passes the boys come to realize that their shared sense of adventure cannot bridge the gulf between their backgrounds, for one is the son of a Dutch plantation owner, and the other the son of a servant. Inevitably, as they grow up, they grow estranged and it is not until years later that they meet again. It will be an explosive and emblematic meeting that marks them even more deeply than their childhood friendship did.
