The Flame Tree

Book excerpt: Jasmine Lian left Malaysia behind when she was eighteen and won a place at Oxford. Since then she’s led a golden life: youngest ever partner in one of the most prestigious law firms in London, poised for success in every area. Then one of her clients, construction firm Jordan Cardale, bids for the grandest, most visionary project in Asia: the futuristic Titiwangsa University, a complete town and campus in the rainforest-covered hills of Malaysia. Jordan Cardale wants to win that contract. By any means necessary. Jasmine, already struggling with the magnetic hold of her native Malaysia, is forced to choose between old life and new, East and West, right and wrong. The Flame Tree offers a vivid snapshot of a fast-developing Malaysia, of moral choices and a woman’s search for her cultural identity.