The White Amah PDF
Preview The White Amah
When a naive Australian school girl joins a dancing troupe she certainly gets more experience in real life than she bargained for--from the nightlife of Singapore to the rain-drenched jungles of Borneo, to the world of a rich and ambitious rock star, 'The White Amah' is the story of a dark secret, and the consequences when a woman's past comes back to threaten the present.
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The Biocide Conspiracy
"Like peeling petals from an exotic tightly curled bloom - the more you peel, the tighter the curls beneath- enticing you to lift yet another layer. Beautiful prose, accompanied by a plot with surprising twists & turns this book keeps you hooked to the very end. A treat to read I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a rich reading experience." - Shoma Mittra - Authorsden
"Massey has crafted an unforgettable novel full of the curious twists and turns of fate. A very satisfying read and delicious to the very end." - Wendy O'Hanlon: Click - A Cultural Connection
- "Set in both familiar and exotic locals, the lives of three women and how they intertwine make up the plot line of this novel. The self-centered rock star, the rich man's concubine, and the young amah lead very different lives, until a vicious murder connects them. An intriguing and enjoyable read" - Cheryl - Goodreads
- "Once you become entwined in the lives of the 3 fascinating women central to The White Amah, you can't wait to discover how they're linked and how their journey will end. The twists and turns along the way will surprise you. " - Sharyn Ghidella Weekend Sunrise Newsreader
- "A well written novel with surprises around every corner" - John Morrow's Pick of the Week
*"I was blown away by this book. I honestly had not expected it to be quite as intricate as it is. It's quite a story that has an awesome view of Southeast Asian indigenous people. " - Margaret- Literary Chanteuse*
From the Author
Two months into a relationship and my partner, a petroleum engineer, whisked me off to a life of luxury in Miri, on the island of Borneo.
For the wives of oil field workers, life was one round of shopping, bridge, golf and tennis. We didn't even have to clean up after ourselves. Why should we? We had our amahs. Like Curly Locks in the old nursery rhyme--'Thou shalt no wash dishes nor yet feed the swine-- our amahs took care of all the household chores.
An amah is the Asian name for a servant. All my married friends, had amahs, most of them were older Malaysian women who worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for a pittance. Back then in the 90's the going rate was MR$250 a month. Converted to Aussie dollars, that's about 35c an hour.
Wives of men earning $10,000 a month plus free house, free car, free utilities, first class flights home for holidays and school fees paid for, at the best and most expensive schools, saw nothing wrong with this. As Bobbie-Jo from Calvary said to me,'They don't need much. I mean how much is a bag of rice."
The women who worked for ex-pats weren't complaining. They knew they had it good compared to the foreign girls who worked for the locals. The Chinese family who lived next-door to me employed a girl from the Philippines. The first thing they did when she arrived was confiscate her passport so she couldn't run away. She slept in a cupboard under the stairs - poky, stuffy, and filled with the family's clutter. Her duties went beyond housework and baby sitting - the male of the household took it as a given that she would sleep with him.
Not that the locals were the only ones to enjoy their amah's favours. Hundreds of single men and married men, (temporarily available), flocked to the oil town. I noticed their amahs were always the beauties, the delicate, ultra feminine Iban girls, straight from the jungle longhouses.
A lot of these men formed relationships with their amahs and, many of them married.and took their sweethearts back home. But others just used them as pretty playthings, and forgot about them when their contracts were finished.
I've written about a girl who was exploited by an ex-pat in my latest book-- The White Amah.
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