The Trailing Spouse by Jo Furniss

Singapore can be a dream destination for many. For expatriate workers too, life can seem to be an endless round of relaxation and parties and the very good life.  For the blue collar workers it may not be so.

Wives who are not working in Singapore are there at the mercy of their husbands. If the husbands visa is revoked, they have thirty days grace to get out of Singapore. Amanda lives a luxurious life with her husband and their step daughter. It is not an ideal relationship but Amanda tries to make it work. Their maid is Filipina and very pleasant with no signs of any dissent. When an apparent suicide takes place and her husband's medication is found in the maid's room, Amanda is left questioning her husband's past and present.

We have Camille working for the British High Commission but whose sole purpose is to find out what happened to her parents when she was a child in Singapore. They disappeared and were never found. Camille is very sure they are alive. Somehow Edward Bonham Amanda's husband seems to be the link and little memories that were hidden now keep popping up.

How Edward's secrets of so long ago are going to be an unexploded bomb in both Camille and Amanda's lives and the secrets of the maid's life are all innocently explained away but far too late for all of them. 

The story unravels slowly and though you think it is a huge conspiracy there is a simple explanation for it all. Unfortunately too late for many of the people in the story.

Very well told and very descriptive of life in Singapore amongst the expat community.

The book was sent to me by Netgalley for an unbiased review, courtesy of Lake Union Publishing.