Story Description:
Percival Chen is the Headmaster of the most respected
English school in Saigon. He is also a
bon vivant, a compulsive gambler, and an incorrigible womanizer. He is well accustomed to bribing a forever-changing
list of government officials in order to maintain the elite status of the
Percival Chen English Academy. Fiercely
proud of his Chinese heritage, he is quick to spot the business opportunities
rife in a divided country. He devotedly
ignores all news of the fighting that swirls around him choosing instead to
read the faces of his opponents at high-stakes mah-jong tables.
But when his son, Dai Jai, get into trouble with the
Vietnamese authorities, Percival must face the limits of his connections and wealth,
and is forced to send him away. In the
loneliness that follows, Percival finds solace in Jacqueline, a beautiful woman
of mixed French and Vietnamese heritage, and Laing Jai, a son born to them on
the verge of the Tet Offensive. Percival’s
newfound happiness is precarious, and as the complexities of war encroach
further and further into this world he must confront the tragedy of all he has
refused to see.
Blessed with intriguingly flawed characters moving
through a richly drawn historical and physical landscape, The Headmaster’s Wager is a riveting story of love, betrayal, and
sacrifice.
My Review:
Vincent Lam’s novel The Headmaster’s Wager seemed to be a bit slow and I had a hard
time keeping my mind from wondering off and thinking of other things, then would
have to come back and re-read the paragraph.
However, the story did seem to pick-up somewhat after he meets
Jacqueline and has a son with her and a surprise I never expected.
All in all, I could easily have given this book a
pass.
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