A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - A NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS' CHOICE -
A tense, stunningly well-observed novel of a young American on the run,
from Lawrence Osborne, "an heir to Graham Greene" (The New York Times
Book Review)
"Bangkok is the star of this accomplished novel. Its denizens are
aliens to themselves, glittering on the horizon of their own lives,
moving--restless and rootless and afraid--though a cityscape that has
more stories than they know."--Hilary Mantel, Booker Prize-winning
author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies
Escaping New York for the anonymity of Bangkok, Sarah Mullins arrives in
Thailand on the lam with nothing more than a suitcase of purloined
money. Her plan is to lie low and map out her next move in a high-end
apartment complex called the Kingdom, whose glass-fronted façade boasts
views of the bustling city and glimpses into the vast honeycomb of lives
within.
It is not long before she meets the alluring Mali doing laps in the
apartment pool, a fellow tenant determined to bring the quiet American
out of her shell. An invitation to Mali's weekly poker nights follows,
and--fueled by shots of yadong, good food, and gossip--Sarah soon falls
in with the Kingdom's glamorous circle of ex-pat women.
But as political chaos erupts on the streets below and attempted
uprisings wrack the city, tensions tighten within the gilded compound.
When the violence outside begins to invade the Kingdom in a series of
strange disappearances, the residents are thrown into suspicion: both of
the world beyond their windows and of one another. And under the
constant surveillance of the building's watchful inhabitants, Sarah's
safe haven begins to feel like a snare.
From a master of atmosphere and mood, The Glass Kingdom is a
brilliantly unsettling story of civil and psychological unrest, and an
enthralling study of karma and human greed.
