The Hamilton Case: A Novel - Softcover

De Kretser, Michelle

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316010812 ISBN 13: 9780316010818

Publisher: Back Bay Books, 2005

Synopsis

A flamboyant beauty who once partied with the Prince of Wales and who now, in her seventh decade, has "gone native" in a Ceylonese jungle. A proud, Oxford-educated lawyer who unwittingly seals his own professional fate when he dares to solve the sensational Hamilton murder case that has rocked the upper echelons of local society. A young woman who retreats from her family and the world after her infant brother is found suffocated in his crib. These are among the linked lives compellingly portrayed in a novel everywhere hailed for its dazzling grace and savage wit--a spellbinding tale of family and duty, of legacy and identity, a novel that brilliantly probes the ultimate mystery of what makes us who we are.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Set in 1930s? Ceylon amid tea plantations, decay, corruption and the backwash of empire, this gripping novel by the author of The Rose Grower, confirms her as a writer of real talent and originality.

Sam Obeysekere -- ?obey? by name and by nature -- is a Ceylonese lawyer, a perfect product of empire. His family once had wealth and influence but starts to crack open as political change comes to the island, and Sam?s glamorous father dies leaving gambling debts. But the Obeysekeres? troubles reach back into the past, when a baby was found dead in his cot. And at the heart of the novel is the Hamilton Case, a murder scandal that shakes the upper echelons of island society. Sam?s involvement in it makes his name but sets his life on course for disappointment.

Full of irresistible characters -- Sam himself, a triumph of ambivalence, resentment and pathos; his beautiful, unstable sister; his flamboyant mother Maud -- this is a sinuous, constantly surprising tale. It paints a haunting picture of the end of an era, suffused with ?the unbearable thought that everything might have been different.?

From the Back Cover:

Praise for The Rose Grower:
“Beautifully written, full of wit and pathos and evocative images…Michelle de Kretser’s final pages are a triumph, quietly moving and with only one victor: a deep red rose.” -- Guardian

“ The Rose Grower is much more than a love story. It’s an intelligent novel that breathes brilliant life into a pivotal period in Western history.” -- Boston Globe

About this edition

• Publisher: Back Bay Books
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0316010812
• ISBN 13: 9780316010818
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 321