LEGACY (PENANG CHRONICLES, VOL. 4) by Rose Gan

As a new century dawns, Francis Light’s family is scattered, its inheritance in jeopardy.

The family of Francis Light faces an uncertain future. As Penang heads inexorably towards colonial rule, Martinha struggles to claim her rightful inheritance, encountering corruption, prejudice and heartbreak in equal measure. Scattered across the world, her children are forced to negotiate the British establishment alone as best they can with little but their father’s name and reputation to sustain them. From Britain to the Peninsular War, from the social pretensions of Bengal to the court of the Pasha of Egypt, from Java in the company of Raffles to the new city of Adelaide in Australia, the next generation makes its way, its roots firmly planted in the beautiful island of its home.

In the same series …

Vol.1: Dragon

Before Raffles, before Rajah Brooke, there was Francis Light, the 18th-century trailblazer in the Malay Archipelago

The 18th-century Straits of Malacca is in crisis, beleaguered by the Dutch, the Bugis, and the clash between Siam and Burma. Enter Francis Light, devious manipulator of the status quo, joined by a cast of real historical figures from the courts of Siam and Kedah and from the East India Company, including Sultan Muhammed Jiwa, King Tak Sin, Warren Hastings and Martinha Rozells, a young Eurasian woman of noble birth.

From humble origins in Suffolk, England, Light struggles against the social prejudices of his day. His subsequent adventures as a naval officer and country ship captain take him from India to Sumatra, the Straits of Malacca to Siam, through shipwreck, sea battles, pirate raids and tropical disease. But Light’s most difficult challenge is his ultimate dream: to establish a British port in the Indies on behalf of the East India Company.

Dragon, the first volume of Penang Chronicles, charts Francis Light’s colourful adventures in the decades before the settlement of Penang island, the Honourable Company’s first possession on the Malay Peninsula.

Vol.2: Pearl

Francis Light, the enigmatic Martinha, and the island of Penang

In this second volume of Penang Chronicles, the eponymous pearl, Martinha Rozells, embodies the diverse heritages of the Straits of Malacca in the 18th century. From her birth in Phuket to her childhood at the court of Kedah, we enter the fascinating world of a well-born woman of the Indies. Meanwhile her new husband, Francis Light, is still the dragon in search of his elusive pearl: a British settlement on the Straits of Malacca.

From the courts of Siam and Kedah, to capture by the French and Dutch, from the salons of Calcutta through gun-running in the Straits, Pearl takes the reader on an astonishing journey culminating in the attainment of a dream on the island of Penang.

Vol.3: Emporium

A possession must be held: the struggle for Penang

A paradise on earth. Penang – the Pearl of the Orient – has fulfilled its promise, becoming the most vibrant port in the Indies in a few short years. But paradise comes at a price for Francis Light and his family. Penang’s meteoric rise from deserted island to thriving port attracts unwanted attention from both the Dutch and the French, while the Sultan of Kedah rages at the treachery of the British. As the 18th century draws to a close, Penang must fortify and prepare for war, and Light’s partner, Martinha Rozells, learns to negotiate the murky waters of colonial prejudice for the sake of her family.

Praise for Penang Chronicles

‘Enthralling … brings a forgotten hero back to rumbustious life.’
John Keay, author of The Honourable Company

‘Rose Gan has skilfully woven a delectable concoction of fact and fiction for this fourth and final instalment in her Penang Chronicles series. Transporting the reader regionally and across the globe and back, from sweating the tropics to covert escapades in the bitter cold, Gan has yet again produced a book that is impossible to put down.’
Marcus Langdon, author of Penang: The Fourth Presidency of India 1805–1830

‘Rose Gan has that unique gift for fusing meticulous research with vivid storytelling and beautiful prose to bring the past to life. She takes us on a walk through the bustling and dusty streets of Georgetown, sits us down for a cool drink on shady verandah in Calcutta and invites us to join a dance with dark-eyed beauties, clad in kebaya, in early 19th-century Batavia. This was a time when diverse peoples – the Malays, Chinese, Bugis, Javanese, Dutch, British, and Tamils – navigated an era rife with ambition, intrigue, colonial arrogance and war. Amongst the soldiers, swindlers and scandals stood people such as Captain Francis Light, adventurer and statesman and founder of modern-day Penang. Her series is centered about his life and are an excellent gateway to rediscover the vibrant and tumultuous days of “old Penang’ and Maritime Southeast Asia. Legacy is the final of this series, with focus on William Light, his son and founder of Adelaide. It is an absolute pleasure to read.’
Herald van der Linde, author of Majapahit and Jakarta

‘A fascinating, compelling read. Rose Gan takes us on a kaleidoscopic journey into the past – to the era of empires. In Legacy, we get insights into the lives of the children of Francis Light, their harrowing adventures and dramatic twists of fate, all the while facing racial prejudice because of their mixed heritage. The double-crossing, betrayals and machinations of colonial personalities including renowned figures such as Stamford Raffles reveal the challenges and pitfalls of that era. Despite the setbacks, William Light, the son of Francis Light and Martinha Rozells, achieved ultimate success in the founding of Adelaide, a similar accomplishment in the footsteps of his father. Meticulously researched, beautifully created, this book is truly a treasure.’
Lee Su Kim, educator, cultural acitivist and author of fifteen books including Kebaya Tales

‘I grew up in Penang with a great fascination of Captain Francis Light and his wife Martinha Rozells. The statue in Penang is modelled after his son, William, and there is no picture of Martinha. But the author has splendidly put life to all these figures including their children and more. She has made the history of Penang so much more livelier with her brilliant prose and vivid imagination. It’s a narrative of unfailing fascination. All four books demonstrate sheer storytelling with painstaking research on Light and the family … it’s brilliantly conceived.’
Wong Chun Wai, National Journalism Laureate and Chairman of Bernama, the Malaysian National News Agency

‘Swashbuckler or swindler, trader or statesman, the mere mention of the name Captain Francis Light in the state of Penang is bound to draw an array of clashing reactions. Gan explores the twists and turns of what Light’s life could have been in this historical fiction narrative.’
Andrea Filmer, The Star, Malaysia

‘An engaging and lively tale about the earliest years of the East India Company settlement of Penang. Gan weaves her narrative skilfully into the historic backdrop – bringing alive key figures and events and offering an enjoyable way to access the momentous moments and big personalities of those early years.’
Andrew Barber, author of Colonial Penang 1786-1957

‘Rich in detail, Legacy stylishly immerses us in the time and space of the colonial era in Penang, Malaysia, its sister city Adelaide, South Australia, and a wider imperial world beyond. I have thoroughly enjoyed Rose Gan’s weaving of the fascinating Light family story into a vast tapestry of empire, faithfully portraying the depth of colonial hegemony and the complexities of identity and intercultural tension. Speaking as an Adelaidian, the imagining of the remarkable life of our gifted Eurasian city planner, Colonel William Light – from naval cadet to visionary – is particularly compelling and emotionally resonant. A wonderful read!’
Elizabeth Ho OAM, Chair, History Trust of South Australia

About the author

British by birth, Rose Gan first arrived in Kuala Lumpur in 1978 and has been living and working between both UK and South East Asia ever since. Married to a Malaysian, and formerly a teacher of History and Latin in UK and Malaysia, Rose was also Vice Chair for Museums of the Indonesian Heritage Society, a guide and docent in Museum National Indonesia, Jakarta, and Muzium Negara and the Textile Museum in KL. In addition to lecturing to cultural associations, Rose has been actively involved with museum publications in Malaysia and Indonesia, both as a writer and editor.

Paperback 9781915310200
Ebook 9781915310217
Extent 528pp
Category Fiction / Historical