Religious fanaticism, race and a newly emergent nationalism form a potent backdrop to this gripping real-life drama about the two women who fought for the custody of a thirteen-year-old girl in the post-war Colony of Singapore.

As a proxy battle between East and West, the grom tale recounted in this book has its fair share of prejudice and mob violence. The tumultuous events which accompanied the legal battle shook the British Colonial Government to its very foundation.

The author recounts the tragic affair with grace and simplicity, drawing upon exhaustive research in both Singapore and Holland. Today, more than thirty-five years after it faded into history, the story provides us with timely reminder of how easily the very fabric of a society can be ripped apart by the unwise handling of sensitive issues