The Glass Palace

The story begins in Burma (Myanmar) in 1885 during the British invasion, which leads to the fall of the Konbaung Dynasty. Eleven-year-old Rajkumar, an Indian orphan, witnesses the exile of King Thibaw and his family from the Glass Palace in Mandalay. Rajkumar falls instantly in love with Dolly, a young attendant to one of the princesses, who is forced into exile in India. The narrative follows Rajkumar as he builds a vast timber empire in Burma and later searches for Dolly, tracing the fortunes of their extended family across Burma, India, and Malaya (Malaysia). The saga illuminates the struggles of a region swept by the tide of modernity, the rise of rubber and teak industries, the moral dilemmas of Indians in the British Indian Army, and the devastating effects of World War II.