Before Raffles, before Rajah Brooke, there was Francis Light, the 18th century trailblazer in the Malay Archipelago. From humble birth in Suffolk, Light struggles against the social prejudices of his day. His subsequent adventures as a Naval officer and merchant sea captain take him from India to Sumatra, the Straits of Malacca to Siam, through shipwreck, sea battles, pirate raids, and tropical disease.  But his most difficult challenge is achieving his ultimate dream: to establish a British port in the Indies on behalf of the East India Company.

“At last, a novel series which engages a crucial and fascinating period of British merchant imperialism and Southeast Asian history. Penang, meeting place of Malays, Bugis and Siamese, here too are freebooting English and a more staid company in Calcutta. Here are mixed marriages, innumerable cross currents with the Dutch in Java and Sumatra, Chinese and Tamil traders, Achenese sultans and a Burma too close for comfort. And in the middle of it all is Francis Light, founder of modern Penang, a man of his times and of history.

Philip Bowring, Empire of the Winds