The Headmaster's Wager

A superbly crafted, highly suspenseful, and deeply affecting debut novel set against the turmoil of the Vietnam War, by an award-winning and internationally bestselling author.

Percival Chen is the headmaster of the most respected English school in Saigon. He is also a bon vivant, a compulsive gambler, and an incorrigible womanizer. He is fiercely proud of his Chinese heritage, and quick to spot the business opportunities rife in a divided country. He devotedly ignores all news of the fighting that swirls around him, choosing instead to read the faces of his opponents at high-stakes mah-jongg tables. But when his only son gets in trouble with the Vietnamese authorities, Percival faces the limits of his connections and wealth. As the complexities of war encroach further and further into his world, he is forced to confront the tragedy of all he has refused to see.

Blessed with intriguingly flawed characters moving through a richly drawn historical and physical landscape, The Headmaster's Wager is a riveting story of love, betrayal, and sacrifice.