The Song of Silver Frond
Catherine Lim
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2011
ISBN: 9789814346238

One morning in Singapore, more than fifty years ago, The Venerable One, a wealthy, respected Chinese patriarch, head of a large household of wives, children and grandchildren, takes a walk by a cemetery. There, a young village girl, Silver Frond, is amusing herself with a comic song-and-dance act based on popular gossip - about him. The meeting changes their lives.

With characteristic verve and wit, Catherine Lim traces the path of this unusual couple as they struggle with the often conflicting forces of tradition and love.

The Bondmaid
Catherine Lim
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2011
ISBN: 9789814346207

This remarkable novel tells the moving story of Han, aged four and the youngest daughter of an impoverished family. Sold as a slave into the House of Wu, she quickly forms a close bond with the young heir, but the idyll of childhood attachment quickly turns into a nightmare of frustrated passion as Han reaches her teens - beautiful, proud and in love with the young master. Her life becomes a struggle against the forces of tradition and tyranny in a world where lustful male relatives use bondmaids for indiscriminate pleasure, visiting monks devise ingenious schemes to combine holy public duty with unbridled private indulgences, and gods and goddesses with careless insouciance, smile to see the human drama unfold.

At once a power study of domestic and sexual slavery and a deeply disturbing and radiantly uplifting story, The Bondmaid captures the special ethos of a wealthy and powerful Chinese household in an era of beauty and brutality and chronicles one love - right to its astonishing climax.

Following the Wrong God Home
Catherine Lim
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2011
ISBN: 9789814346221

In modern-day Singapore, a young woman is about to break all rules.

Yin Ling - enigmatic, beautiful, and engaged to the wealthy, politically ambitious Vincent Chee - falls clandestinely in love with Ben Gallagher, an outspoken American professor. Ben is equally mesmerised by Yin Ling and the depth of her inner life, which finds expression in secret poems and an unwavering devotion to an old, eccentric family servant, whose obsession it is to return a mysterious statue of her god to his rightful home before she dies.

Beyond the certainty of Ben and Yin Ling's love are a hundred uncertainties that break when heart and head collide: East or West; duty or passion; reality or a dream. And Yin Ling must choose: which god should she follow?

The Teardrop Story Woman
Catherine Lim
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2011
ISBN: 9789814346214

To be born female is curse enough. To be born female with an unlucky teardrop mole is surely a mark of the gods' displeasure...

Set in Malaya in the turbulent 1950s this powerful story explores love's eternal quest against a dramatic landscape torn apart by terrorist grenades. Beautiful and spirited, Mei Kwei overcomes the misfortunes of her birth and runs from the men she cannot love into the arms of the man she must not love: the Catholic priest Father Francois Martin, a missionary sent to Luping, a small town in Malaya.

In the face of Mei Kwei's passion, Father Martin's commitment to his vocation cracks, and the demands of the flesh and spirit come into fearful collision.

Rebuilding the Ancestral Village: Singaporeans in China
Khun Eng Kuah-Pearce
Singapore: NUS Press, 2011
ISBN: 9789971695255

This work illustrates the relationship between one group of Singaporean Chinese and their ancestral village in Fujian, China. It explores the reasons why the Singaporean Chinese continue to maintain ties with their ancestral village and how they reproduce Chinese culture through ancestor worship and religion in the ancestral village. In some cases, the Singaporeans feel morally obliged to assist in village reconstruction and infrastructure developments such as new roads, bridges, schools and hospitals. Others help with small-scale industrial and retail activities. Meanwhile, officials and villagers in the ancestral home utilize various strategies to encourage the Singaporeans to revisit their ancestral village, sustain heritage ties, and help enhance the moral economy. This ethnographic study examines two geographically distinct groups of Chinese coming together to re-establish their lineage and identity through cultural and economic activities.

Singapore Shifting Boundaries: Social Change in the Early 21st Century
William S.W. Lim, Sharon Siddique & Tan Dan Feng (eds.)
Singapore: Asian Urban Lab, 2011
ISBN: 9789814022743

This book aims to depict the richly textured and nuanced fabric of social life in Singapore in the early 21st century, as Singaporeans live in a blur of shifting boundaries where past, present and future co-exist.

36 commentators, artists and activists of different ages and backgrounds share their views in stimulating and compact pieces that come in a variety of literary forms, including essays, commentaries, reflections, poems, dialogues, novel and script excerpts, blog entries and presentations.

These colourful pieces touch on identity, language, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, politics, memory, religion, geography, arts and activism, painting a picture of the complex and vibrant society that is Singapore today.

Malay Heritage of Singapore
Aileen T. Lau & Bernhard Platzdasch (eds.)
Singapore: Suntree Media, 2010
ISBN: 9789810860295

This book aims to provide a substantive account of major aspects of Malay life in Singapore, drawing upon a rich history and regional ethnic cultures that shaped the Malay community. Researched essays provide valuable insights into important moments in Malay history while other chapters describe the rich cultural achievements of the Malays.

In Singapore's ancient history, Malay life may be traced as far back as the 7th to 11th centuries, during the Sri Vijaya period, and to the Majapahit empire in the 14th century. The book also charts the progression of the Malay community through colonial times, war and political strife in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The early settlers were engaged in trade and politics and set up the old port town in the Kampong Gelam, Rochor and Kallang area, bringing with them many sub-cultures from their original homes in island Southeast Asia. Among them came the Javanese, Bugis, Boyanese, Minangs, Banjaris and many other ethnic groups that enriched the tapestry of Malay life with literary and folkloric influences, visual arts, decorative and architectural styles, beliefs and rituals, family structure and traditions, village and community life, and past-times and entertainment. Over time, independence and nationhood, the Malay community thrived alongside other migrant communities in Singapore, its rich heritage a part of the nation's cultural assets today.

The book is lavishly illustrated with more than 556 maps, photographs and other illustrative materials to enhance each of the 16 chapters.

Between two oceans: a military history of Singapore From 1275 to 1971 [2nd ed]
Malcolm M. Murfett, John N. Miksic, Brian P. Farrell & Chiang Ming Shun
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2011
ISBN: 9789814302883

Many books have been written about Singapore's development as a crucial maritime centre along the East-West trading route, but one aspect of its history has for the most part escaped serious attention: the military perspective.

Between Two Oceans plugs this historical gap. Drawing on an impressive range of archaeological and historical sources, the book traces the geo-strategic development of Singapore from its first settlement in the thirteenth century, through the turbulent phases of the Early Modern period, to the dramatic military episodes that were such a distinctive feature of the twentieth century. The authors break new ground in dispelling many of the myths about Singapore's military history that have formed over the years and come to be accepted as fact.

A dozen years after its first appearance, Between Two Oceans remains the gold standard in the field. In this second edition, the authors have revised and updated their essays in light of the latest findings, adding yet more layers to this rich and riveting account of defence, grand strategy, and the fateful clash of imperial ambitions.

Brand Singapore: How Nation Branding Built Asia's Leading Global City
Koh Buck Song
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Business, 2011
ISBN: 9789814328159

Reputation is precious. Top talent and hot money gravitate only to the most attractive, respected nations. For a country as small and as young as Singapore, its brand is its most valuable asset.

Singapore's stunning ascent from Third World to First World in a matter of 30 years was spearheaded by a concerted, closely-coordinated programme of nation building. Brand Singapore helped to attract the investments, business, trade, tourism and talented human resources that are the lifeblood of a successful nation. Today, the city-state is known internationally as a dynamic, safe, corruption-free place to do business, a Garden City, and increasingly, a vibrant city of culture and the arts. In global surveys of quality of life, Singapore regularly tops the charts.

How did Singapore create this country brand, cultivate and guard it, sell it to its "shareholders", and make it known to the world? Drawing on two decades in the nation branding game, Koh Buck Song offers an illuminating inside look at - and candid critique of - a country brand that is as rich in resource as it is potent with promise.

Images of Singapore
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish, 2011
ISBN: 9789814328654

From the majestic Marina Bay Sands Integrated Resorts to the stately, colonial-style Supreme Court; from the dynamic pulse of the central business district to a tranquil stroll along the Southern Ridges Canopy Walk; and from the high-octane exhilaration of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix to the joyous festivities of Chinese New Year, Singapore is a truly cosmopolitan mix of East and West, past and present, and tradition and modernity.

Filled with stunning photographs of Singapore's vibrant yet harmonious blend of culture, cuisine, architecture, nature and the arts, Images of Singapore presents a panoramic look at the dynamic 'Little Red Dot', its people and their lifestyles.

This coffee table book is the perfect introduction to those keen on a visit to Singapore, and an excellent keepsake for tourists, locals and anyone with an eye for culture brought to life through the lens.