Sauce of Life

Lai Pek is a self-made man and proud
of it. He has reached middle age a
successful businessman and patriarch
of a thriving family. His outlook on life
is smug, self-satisfi ed and complacent.
But no one goes through life unscathed
and, like a tiger silently creeping
through the jungle, adversity stalks Lai
Pek, striking swiftly.
Faced with a formidable business rival,
a horrifying tragedy at his rubber
plantation and a shocking crime that
threatens the lives of those dear to him,
Lai Pek must reassess his values and
draw on an inner strength that he may
not possess if he is to survive the crises
that life has thrown at him.
Set in a small town in peninsular
Malaya in the 1930's, the story takes
place against the colourful backdrop
of the lives and customs of the
Chinese denizens and the inexorable
encroachment of modern ideas and
infl uences on their long-held values
and ways of life.