“The Garden of Evening Mists” by Tan Twan Eng (Malaysia)
Winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize 2012

Synopsis

Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice “until the monsoon comes.” Then she can design a garden for herself.

As the months pass, Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to the gardener and his art, while all around them a communist guerilla war rages. But the Garden of Evening Mists remains a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo and how did he come to leave Japan? And is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war perhaps the darkest secret of all?

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Join us online on Thursday, 7 May 2026 to discuss this book with other readers. Tickets available via our ticketing service.

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Nicola’s Book Club reading list

Season 26 – Book Award Winners (Nov 2025 – May 2026)

“Against The Loveless World” by Susan Abulhawa (Palestine) – Winner of the Palestine Book Award 2020
“A Brief History of Seven Killings” by Marlon James (Jamaica) – Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2015
“Lost Children Archive” by Valeria Luiselli (Mexico) – Winner of the Dublin Literary Award 2021
“The Garden of Evening Mists” by Tan Twan Eng (Malaysia) – Winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize 2012