The White Rajah by Tom Williams

[byslantedlight]

It's ages since I've started reading a book and then been 100% annoyed at the world that it won't let me just sit there and finish it all in one go, but The White Rajah by Tom Williams has totally been that book! As it was, it was there waiting for me in it's Amazon-cardboarded glory when I got home last night, and because Sir James Brooke is my new boyfriend (thank you foxcat74 for that rather brilliant description), and I'd already started White Rajah by Nigel Barley which is a biography of Brooke, but this was the novel of the biography of the... (well, of course it's not cos it's a novel, but it kind of is...) I had to sit down with it straight away.

And there is just something about it!

Granted, I was predisposed to be interested cos it's about Brooke, who I met at the National Portrait Gallery:

and fell in love with a bit because he's just got something, and fought pirates, and adventured around the world at the same time as all the boys I'd been researching for my defunct phd, and has curly brown hair and look at the way he's leaning on that rock! Also it turns out that he was almost certainly gay, and the novel is told from the pov of the bloke who fell in love with him... *g*

And that's the other thing about this book - it's not just a story about Brooke's adventures in Borneo, or about Williamson for that matter, it is a romance because they're shown to be totally, devotedly in love, but at the same time it's not a pile of soppy tat with one of them actually "the woman" (*headdesk* that that's even supposedly "definable"). It's their story, and it's the story of how Brooke came to be the "White Rajah" of the country of Sarawak, and it's a bit fab. It's about two people and something extraordinary that they did, and how they felt about it and dealt with it.

From the back cover:
Based on a true story, Brooke's battle is a tale of adventure set against the background of a jungle world of extraordinary beauty and terrible savagery. Told through the eyes of the man who loves him and shares his dream, this is a tale of love and loss from a 19th century world that still speaks to us today.

And it can be found here on Amazon, or if you're in the States directly from JMS Books - and ooh, look there's an extract here too... and just... go out and buy it!

Also, foxcat74? Next time I'm down, there's a churchyard on Dartmoor that we need to find... *g*

Comments

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I don't know - it depends how your libraries stock up, I guess. It's published by an independent publisher, it's about an Englishman, and a gay romance, so...? *g* You could always request it, though and see what they come up with!

Oh, it's available on the Kindle too, though!

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

So far, only one library in the US owns it--Emeryville, CA. But it's a 2010 book, and not one that a lot of libraries would pre-order so more purchases should happen. You can request it through interlibrary loan, or even for purchase at your public library.

(Sorry to cut in, but it is my area of knowledge! *g*)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

As far as I'm concerned, cutting in is always good - information and discussions happen that way! *g* Also, I love that the library which stocks it is in somewhere I know! I've been there! *g*

And dooo ask libraries to order it... *g*

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Thanks for cutting in!
I just checked our library, before seeing this, and all they have is a book with the right title, by Nicholas Monsarrat, from 1961. Seems to be something totally unrelated.

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Where do you find the Kindle version?
I wonder if it can be read on the Nook, too.
Will go and see what google says...

Found a link, where they also have a free ebook by Tom Williams (Voyage East)that also seems to have Sir James Brooke in it, or at least he is mentioned in the summary.
Have downloaded it and will see how I like the writing style.
http://www.jms-books.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=329

Here is the excerpt:
I can still remember the very first time I saw James Brooke.

It was in the Goat and Compasses, a low dive of an inn, even as sailors’ taverns go. I was there because I wanted to be alone to drink away the last of my pay and decide what I was to do for the future when the door was thrown open and in he came.

He was so much younger in those days, of course. We were all so much younger. I was scarcely a man, really, for all I thought myself cock o’ the walk. He was in his middle twenties, tall, good-looking with dark curly hair blowing untidily. I say good looking but, in truth, he was one of the handsomest men I had ever seen. He was of medium height but slim and swift in his movements, and he carried himself with the easy confidence that comes with wealth. It seemed to me he brought an energy and enthusiasm into the room with him. At first I thought it was because of the red soldier’s coat he wore over civilian trousers. (It was the coat of an officer of the East India Company and he had no business wearing it, having resigned his commission the previous year, but all this I was to learn later.) As he and his friends fairly skipped across to the bar, though, his gaze caught mine and the fire that glinted and shone in that glance was brighter than any red coat.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I didn't think he's got very far writing this yet - yeay! ...ah no, hang on - that's actually part of The White Rajah you've quoted there! I think he said in his blog that they were including the beginning of TWR somewhere...

Ah yes - aha! This is what you've found: NOTE: Voyage East is the opening scenes from the novel The White Rajah by Tom Williams. You've found the start of TWR!

I hope you do like his style... *g*

He's writing a sequel to TWR too though, which makes me happy, and I can't say any more for fear of spoilering people!

The Kindle version was at Amazon when I looked... and yes, here it is! *g*

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

That's even better! That way it can be sampled before buying. I totally overlooked the note. :)

Thanks for the link to the Kindle version (not that I own one, but maybe it can be converted.
Though the place I found it at has it in all sorts of versions, even for my old Palm TX, which is still my favorite reader.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I was briefly very excited when I saw it - I want his new book now! *g* Also, I really liked the cover... *g*

JMS Books is his publisher - apparently he couldn't find one over here, and he got the distinct impression that it was largely because it featured an m/m romance, and if it'd been m/f then he'd've fared better - hmmn. That would have taken away so much of the interest of it, though!