Rich People Problems

Tyersall Park is the grand Singapore-based estate over which matriarch Shang Su Yi presides. Symbolically, Tyersall Park is representative of Su Yi’s family’s enormous wealth and her steadfast dedication to preserving a legacy—almost to the detriment of her relationship with her grandson Nick. What the latter finds out later in the novel is that the property is also symbolic of the Singaporeans’ resilience in response to Japanese aggression during World War II, a key pathway—“a sort of Underground Railroad”—for operatives passing through Southeast Asia to Oceania, and a safe house for those who were targets of Japanese aggression (376).

Even before Nick learns about the property’s larger historical significance, it is a site of great personal significance for him—one that harbors his most cherished childhood memories. The secret passage starting at the conservatory and leading to the Botanic Gardens was how he would sneak back into the house, but it was also where his grandmother managed to funnel operatives under the nose of the Japanese general, Count Hisaichi Terauchi, after disguising them as servants. For his other relatives, particularly Eddie, the house is either a financial boon or a solidification of their superior class status in Singapore.

At the conclusion of the novel, the reader learns that the property has been preserved as a historic landmark and hotel. Its grounds have also been used to create an eco-village with affordable housing. The author’s decision to transform the property in this way and to make all of the novel’s characters, even the most selfish ones, supportive of this move is arguably a moral comment on the obligations of the super-wealthy. No one in the novel becomes truly happy until they have an opportunity to share their bounty with the larger community.