The Fragrant Harbour of John Lanchester’s historical novel is Hong Kong. I acquired this novel via my second-hand book subscription in August 2025 – I had said that I was open to receiving literary fiction novels. I don’t read a lot of historical fiction but this book has survived on my to-be-read piles for over a year because I have previously read a very interesting memoir by this same author – see here for my review.
The book is set in two time periods. One begins in the 1930s, and progresses forward, which is narrated by a British immigrant, Tom Stewart. The other two narratives are both set around the end of British rule in the territory, with one at the start of the book and one at the end. Tom’s narrative is the longest and his story is the defining force of the book – it is only near to the end of the book that you see how the three stories link together.
Tom comes to Hong Kong because he no longer fits in Britain and he wants adventure. The book follows him on his journey to the territory and then as he establishes himself as the manager of one of the local hotels. The story takes Tom through the war, when Hong Kong is occupied by the Japanese, and up to the time of the other narratives. The author covers a lot in this, especially in the description of the journey out and the other ex-pats that Tom meets then who reappear during the course of the story. The other main storyline is the occupation by the Japanese in WW2 and what Tom does during this period. At the end of Tom’s narrative is a very nice little twist, which I saw coming but which was still cleverly done, which links Tom to the narrator of the final section, which then links to the first narrative. It’s all very well written and very satisfying.
I enjoyed this story very much and it was close to being on my list of best novels read this year but I thought that the last section seemed very rushed, with the narrator telling us things rather than us seeing them happen. The ending of the novel also seemed a bit weird and I wasn’t quite sure what the author was trying to tell me. Overall, however, this was an excellent read about loyalty, identity and fitting in. It taught me things that I didn’t know about this period in Hong Kong’s history, which was interesting, but mostly it was a story about people living in hard times and trying to live up to their own ideals. I grew very fond of Tom as the story progressed. Despite some of the subject matter I found it to be an uplifting book.
I am not keeping this novel but it is in very good condition so I shall pass it to Oxfam to resell.
