The White Amah [Kindle Edition]

Ann Massey (Author)

Book Description

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<span><span><span><span><span><span>It's 1981: Dallas is captivating the nation on TV, an aging film star has just become president, Abba is top of the pops, and in a seedy clinic a desperate girl sells her newborn baby. . .</span></span></span></span></span></span>

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<span><span><span><span><span><span>The chart-busting rock star, the timber baron's concubine and the young housemaid lead very different lives, until a vicious murder connects them. <span>From the nightlife of Singapore to the rain-drenched jungles of Borneo, to the world of a rich and ambitious rock star, </span><span>The White Amah is the story of a dark secret, and the consequences when a woman's past comes back to threaten the present.</span> </span></span></span></span></span></span>

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<span>*** Other works***</span>
<span>The Biocide Conspiracy</span><span></span>

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Editorial Reviews

Review

• "Like peeling  petals from an exotic tightly curled bloom - the more you peel, the tighter  the curls beneath- enticing you to lift yet another layer. Beautiful prose, accompanied by a plot with surprising twists & turns this book keeps you hooked to the very end. A treat to read  I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a rich reading experience." - Shoma Mittra - Authorsden

• "Massey has crafted an unforgettable novel full of the curious twists and turns of fate. A very satisfying read and delicious to the very end." - Wendy O'Hanlon:  Click - A Cultural Connection

• "Set in both familiar and exotic locals, the lives of three women and how they intertwine make up the plot line of this novel. The self-centered rock star, the rich man's concubine, and the young amah lead very different lives, until a vicious murder connects them. An intriguing and enjoyable read" - Cheryl - Goodreads

• "Once you become entwined in the lives of the 3 fascinating women central to The White Amah, you can't wait to discover how they're linked and how their journey will end. The twists and turns along the way will surprise you. " - Sharyn Ghidella Weekend Sunrise Newsreader

• "A well written novel with surprises around every corner" - John Morrow's Pick of the Week

• "I was blown away by this book. I honestly had not expected it to be quite as intricate as it is. It's quite a story that has an awesome view of Southeast Asian indigenous people. " - Margaret- Literary Chanteuse

From the Author

Two months into a relationship and my partner, a petroleum engineer, whisked me off to a life of luxury in Miri, on the island of Borneo.

For the wives of oil field workers, life was one round of shopping, bridge, golf and tennis. We didn't even have to clean up after ourselves. Why should we? We had our amahs. Like Curly Locks in the old nursery rhyme--'Thou shalt no wash dishes nor yet feed the swine-- our amahs took care of all the household chores.

An amah is the Asian name for a servant. All my married friends, had amahs, most of them were older Malaysian women who worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for a pittance. Back then in the 90's the going rate was MR$250 a month. Converted to Aussie dollars, that's about 35c an hour.

Wives of men earning $10,000 a month plus free house, free car, free utilities, first class flights home for holidays and school fees paid for, at the best and most expensive schools, saw nothing wrong with this. As Bobbie-Jo from Calvary said to me,'They don't need much. I mean how much is a bag of rice."

The women who worked for ex-pats weren't complaining. They knew they had it good compared to the foreign girls who worked for the locals. The Chinese family who lived next-door to me employed a girl from the Philippines. The first thing they did when she arrived was confiscate her passport so she couldn't run away. She slept in a cupboard under the stairs - poky, stuffy, and filled with the family's clutter. Her duties went beyond housework and baby sitting - the male of the household took it as a given that she would sleep with him.

Not that the locals were the only ones to enjoy their amah's favours. Hundreds of single men and married men, (temporarily available), flocked to the oil town. I noticed their amahs were always the beauties, the delicate, ultra feminine Iban girls, straight from the jungle longhouses.

A lot of these men formed relationships with their amahs and, many of them married.and took their sweethearts back home. But others just used them as pretty playthings, and forgot about them when their contracts were finished.

I've written about a girl who was exploited by an ex-pat in my latest book-- The White Amah.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 907 KB
• Print Length: 326 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1456578065
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004VMQAW0
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #837,839 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rich Reading Experience November 16, 2011

By Shoma Mittra

Format:Paperback

It was raining thick sheets of water. The sound was deafening as it hit the tiled roofs and slid heavily through the gutters into the ground. As I made my third cup of coffee that day, I was longing for a good book I could dig into, curl up in my favourite chair and lose myself in another world. It took me only a few minutes to find and download The White Amah on the Kindle and I was set...

The White Amah by Anne Massey weaves a tale around three women connected by a single mistake. Like a haunting melody that peaks and troughs, this book has some stunning writing without being trite. It will take you traipsing through the night life of Singapore, launch you into the deep rain forests of Borneo and scoop you up and put you down in the streets of London.
Tuff is a chartbusting pop singer with a dubious past. She has created a carefully contrived image around her persona and the public are ga-ga over her every move. But when confronted with some unpalatable truths from her past, Tuff loses her cool and makes one wrong move which will prove to be very costly for her.

Seventeen years earlier, a young Australian called Crystal Brooke finds herself abandoned in the big bad world in Singapore. Her dreams of becoming a pop star come crashing down when she finds that she is pregnant. There is no question about returning back to her family in Australia. Crystal knows that her father would never accept her. Frightened and alone, there is only one option - Crystal puts her baby up for adoption. The infant is adopted by an expat family in Malaysia. The couple engage an amah (nanny) to look after the baby, Mei-Li. Rubiah, the amah is herself a young girl and although she loves and cares for the baby, her sights are set on a good life.... `Good life' comes in the form of nightly visits from her employer who piles her with gifts and baubles -until the wife finds out. Then all hell breaks loose and the expat dumps Rubiah and flees the country with his wife. Rubiah is left holding a baby she doesn't want. She realises that she is only a young girl herself and her dreams of a slick city life with all the riches will remain a distant dream if she has an infant in tow. So Rubiah takes the baby to her native village in a remote rain forest jungle in Borneo where she leaves Mei Li under the care of her parents and returns to the city to make a life for herself.

In the deep forests, Mei Li is brought up as a traditional Dayak tribal woman. She has no ambition except to lead a good peaceful life in the jungle she loves. But fate has other things in store for her and no one is more surprised than Mei Li at the turn of events which catapults her into an environment she has never dreamed of. She becomes the white amah.
Anne Massey's book The White Amah plays on many different levels. It is like peeling off the petals from an exotic tightly curled bloom - the more you peel, the tighter are the curls beneath- enticing you to lift yet another layer. Beautiful prose, accompanied by a plot with surprising twists and turns, this book keeps you hooked to the very end. The White Amah shows how much Massey's work has matured as a writer after the The Biocide Conspiracy which was her first novel.

The White Amah is a treat to read and I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a rich reading experience. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of the White Amah April 8, 2011

By Ann Massey (Perth, Australia)

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Delving into The White Amah is like eating a rich dessert - layers and layers of delightful surprises. This story begins so innocently in Australia and then follows so many hard-edged surprising turns that the reader's head is spinning - in a most delightful way - through Malaysia and then onto London.

And just like a many-layered dessert, you simply can't dally in savouring the different offerings - all must be impatiently revealed.

The author, Ann Massey, introduces us to the main characters one by one - like the many-layered dessert. At first we are rapt in the dancing, rocking Crystal - an ambitious teenager who secures a dancing contract in Malaysia. Our attention then turns to the impoverished Rubiah who schemes her way out of the drudgery of tribal life in a Dayak village. But then we are immersed in the battle of little Mei Li - a girl who believes she came from the Dayak village but feels somewhat of an outcast because of her fairer skin and great height.

Behind these personal stories is the backdrop of the timber logging industry in Malaysia which makes multi-national companies rich while plundering and destroying the precious environmental habitat and centuries-old tribal way of life.
Massey has crafted an unforgettable novel full of the curious twists and turns of fate. A very satisfying read and delicious to the very end.

Wendy O'Hanlon
Click, A Cultural Connection

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring June 11, 2013

By Sharon Crowley

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

from the begining until you just can not tolarate it one more minute
it is boring. The Author thinks the readers
have never read a novel before and starts it thinking we are simpletons!!

4.0 out of 5 stars White Amah review December 12, 2011

By Margaret (Literary Chanteuse)

Format:Kindle Edition

I was blown away by this book. I honestly had not expected it to be quite as intricate as it is. It's quite a story that has an awesome view of southeast Asian indigenous people. There is a little mystery thrown in and a look at the rougher side of life. The introduction of a lot of characters can sometimes be overwhelming however not here. I loved how in the end everyone ties in together one way or another and how the story does a well rounded circle.

More About the Author

I was born in 1945 and grew up in the tough environment of a council estate, in north-west Bolton. After emigrating to Australia at fifteen, I worked at various lacklustre jobs before going to live in the jungles of Borneo. It was at this time that I began to record heart-wrenching stories of the sexual exploitation of Iban girls, portrayed in 'The White Amah'. A stint as a governess on an outback sheep station provided the setting for my next book, 'The Biocide Conspiracy'. My new book, 'Salvation Jane', will be published in mid 2013. I live in Perth, Western Australia.