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

[foreverfoxcat.livejournal.com]

Ah, you're in the honeymoon period where you can't get enough of him, and everything he does seems wonderful and perfect. Aw, aint love grand? The novel sounds great, I shall add it to my wish list on amazon and maybe treat myself after my next pay day. And I'm always up for trawling round graveyards, you know that. :D I've never even heard of Sheepstor though, it must be really tiny!

And see, this is why I love the NPG. There are so many wonderful faces there, sometimes you just get completely struck by someone out of the blue. Next time we get the chance we should go back and spend a proper amount of time there.

Between me and my re-awakened love for Wilkie Collins and you and your first burst of passion for Sir James we're like a couple of love-struck schoolgirls, aren't we? Heeeeee.

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

Oh, the beautiful lad in the National! I'm adding the book to my Amazon list - it sounds too good to miss, thank you.

Is that the Sheeps Tor near Burrator? Or are there two? I used to know it if it's the same one, but wracking my brain I can't recall the church.

[londonronnie.livejournal.com]

I think I'm another one who's going to put that book on my 'to buy' list. It sounds right up my alley!

[caffyolay.livejournal.com]

I've added it to my Amazon wishlist too.

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

He really *does* have something, and the book sounds great.
I suppose the library won't have it?

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

I see there's a kindle edition pretty cheap.

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Squee! They have a Kindle edition so I have it now, within two minutes of reading your post!! And it can go to Portugal with me tomorrow. Thanks for the link and review - it sounds wonderful, and the reviews on Amazon all seem to back up your opinion.

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

Cool. And since I'm very like you in enjoying the show-don't-tell side of things, even more cool! *g* Now the only problem is that eternal one of no time! But I love the idea of a book that I really don't want to put down. Thanks!

[rosie55.livejournal.com]

I've downloaded a sample and will see how it appeals, I have so much on my Kindle waiting to be read, I'm trying to cut down a bit.
Hmmm, so you and I taking a fancy to that good looking fella in the portrait at Ickworth is just par for the course, is it, lol! Another somewhat fey individual if I remember.
A couple of days ago I downloaded a new app for the HTC called Google goggles - foc from the Android market. You scan books, pictures, landmarks and it searches for them and gives you the info it finds. So I tried it out on your smaller picture above (without the book title) and sure enough it came up with the right identity of the portrait and also found me the book with a range of places I could get it from including Amazon, both UK and .com. So even if you hadn't put the link, I would have found it very quickly. You can also scan things like menus in other languages and it will translate them for you. Very nifty and could be quite fun. M was quite sceptical about it until he tried it, then went off to download it to his phone so he could play too!

[moth2fic.livejournal.com]

Just to let you know I read The White Rajah while I was away and adored it. Thanks so much for recommending it! I loved all the fascinating information about Borneo as well as the romantic adventurousness of it all. I'm still trying to find out what the Victorians used so much antimony for - any idea?

[moonlightmead.livejournal.com]

Guess what I just bought on my exciting new Kindle-toy?