Bukit Larangan water feature: In the 14th century, this hill was the centre of the Kingdom of Temasek [old name for Singapore]. A forbidden spring on the west side was where the royal women bathed. It features in both A Strand of Gold and Hope Dares to Blossom as the place where the main characters like to meet; it is also the place where the Spice Garden was planted.
Elisabeth Conway
Author of the Strands of Shining Gold Trilogy
The Strands of Shining Gold Trilogy
The Strands of Shining Gold Trilogy comprises historical novels that follow the friendships and challenges of people from diverse environments, as they make their way through the exotic world that is mid 19th Century Singapore.
A Strand of Gold
The story begins in Guangzhou, China where two young women from very different backgrounds first meet. Their story continues in Singapore, where their hopes are shattered amid a male dominated world. More about the book >>
Hope Dares to Blossom
Beginning eighteen months after A Strand of Gold concludes, a young botanist has the good fortune to meet Raffles in London before he embarks upon a plant-collecting trip to China. In Singapore, he meets all the people who Raffles misses the most. More about the book >>
Now Available – Living the Legacy
The last tale in the Strands of Gold Trilogy, bringing the lives of the three main characters – Dick, Chin Ming, and Wing Yee – to a point where they are ready to step out on their own.. More about the book >>
Listen to a reading from Living the Legacy
From chapter 1: Pieter Steffens, newly released from 7 years in prison, bumps into someone who may help him in his plans…
Read by John Bruce.
Author notes
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What Next? Shortly after the publication of Living the Legacy I was fired with enthusiasm to write a novel which linked the Strands of Gold Trilogy to England – where I live now. My first thought was to write a novel based on the life of Sophia, Stamford Raffles’s wife, after his death. I knew that she had written his Memoire and had fought hard and long to get a statue of him commissioned. I spent hours in the British Library going through her letters and any other documents that might be relevant to the idea I had in mind. It was… continued...Watch an extract from A Strand of Gold being read
From chapter 3: Chin Ming has crept aboard the Golden Phoenix and has remained concealed in an unused cupboard…
Read by Miyuki Griffin.
The Places
Singapore Harbour: From the founding of the British settlement in 1819, Singapore became a central port of call in Southeast Asia for sailing vessels of all nationalities In A Strand of Gold, Raffles makes it quite clear that it’s free port status as well as its central location in the region is what attracts junks from China as well as the Indiamen from Europe.