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Kevin KwanA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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Nick called his father, Philip, to warn him that Philip’s sisters were moving quickly to sell the house. Nick’s priority was to preserve Tyersall Park, which was a unique property. His father thought that he was being sentimental. Furthermore, though the house “was like some never-never land” for Nick, “it was a bit of a prison” for Philip and his sisters (294). There were chairs on which he was never allowed to sit because they were so valuable. Then, when he was old enough to walk, Philip’s parents sent him to boarding school, thus leading him to spend most of his time away from Tyersall Park.
Nick asked his father if he would consider joining him and Alistair in buying everyone else out. He asked for a bit of time to find a way to keep the estate in the family, while also making the property lucrative to everyone. Philip figured that, if his son cared that much, he would sign over his 30% stake now. After all, the property would one day be Nick’s anyway, and Philip preferred to be kept out of the sale.
After hanging up, Nick went downstairs with the intention of announcing the new plans to his aunts. They had news of their own: Jack Bing had just offered to buy the property, with the intention of preserving it, for 10 billion. Just one day earlier, Oliver arranged for Kitty to meet the Dowager Sultana in Kuala Lumpur at Istana al Noor—"a humongous white palace that resembled a wedding cake” (298). The Dowager Sultana met them, dripping with diamonds and pretending to be a strict adherent of royal protocol. In truth, the Dowager Sultana was Oliver’s Aunt Zarah. She had agreed to participate in a ruse that would convince Kitty to buy Tyersall Park so that Colette wouldn’t. The plan also got Kitty’s mind off of her initial demand to Oliver that he get her a royal title.
Carlton and Scheherazade were hiking in the reservoir and observing its wildlife. They walked to Tree-Top Walk, “a 250-meter suspension bridge that [stretched] from Bukit Peirce to Bukit Kalang, the two highest points of the preserve” (305). Scheherazade thanked Carlton for taking her there. Though they were still in Singapore, they felt so far away from it, swaying above a canopy of trees.
Scheherazade said that she loved seeing that so much nature was still preserved in the reservoir, especially because Singapore was changing so rapidly. What she loved about Paris was that there was history everywhere, but not her history. It was also “neutral territory because it [was] neither Singapore nor England” (306). She didn’t have to contend with her feeling of being neither completely British nor completely Chinese. Carlton related. He had attended school in England, which made it difficult to relate to Chinese people back home in Shanghai. On the other hand, in Singapore, he was regarded as too much of a Mainlander. However, in London, he felt that he had more freedom to be himself.
A cluster of men came down from the other side of the bridge. Scheherazade noticed that they looked Italian and were wearing “white jackets and bow ties” (307). The men were bartenders. Carlton had arranged for them to serve Negronis on the bridge, which was Scheherazade’s favorite cocktail. The pair kissed and stood on the bridge in each other’s arms, watching the sun set.
Carlton drove Scheherazade home that evening. She invited him in to meet her parents, Leonard and India Shang. Carlton noticed that the Shangs lived modestly in Singapore, despite controlling “the majority of the country’s GDP” (308). Carlton entered the house and was shocked to see his ex-girlfriend Colette, whom he hadn’t seen in nearly two years. The last time was when he had discovered that she had tried to poison his sister, Rachel.
Leonard Shang invited his daughter to meet Colette, who was there with her husband. Scheherazade then introduced Carlton to the Shangs. When he faced Colette, he felt all of his anger come flooding back. Colette told Mrs. Shang that Carlton collected cars, which he liked to race. India suspiciously asked if he had ever been in an accident. Colette then revealed that Carlton had killed one girl and then paralyzed another, to the shock and horror of the Shangs. Carlton realized that, despite her new title, Colette hadn’t changed a bit.
Chloe Wu called her father to tell him that her mother was acting strangely again. Charlie drove to Isabel’s house and was surprised to find that a massive party was in progress, supposedly a benefit for Yunnan Province’s earthquake victims. Charlie saw Isabel sitting “at one of the front tables, dressed in a man’s tuxedo with her hair slicked back” (313). She was sitting on the lap of a male model who looked to be in his twenties, while her daughters stood behind her chair, dressed like Cabaret protagonist Sally Bowles. Charlie told Isabel that he was taking the girls home; it was past midnight and they had school the next day. Isabel protested, saying that she had invited a major Chinese fashion model to the party because Chloe had a crush on him.
Charlie concluded that Isabel was in the midst of a manic episode. He refused to argue with her. Instead, he took Chloe and Delphine by the hands and marched them to the door. He then whispered to Isabel’s security guard, Jonny Fung, to keep an eye on Isabel and not to let her leave the house until Charlie returned in the morning with her doctors. At three o’clock in the morning, Charlie was awakened by a phone call. It was Isabel. She wanted to know where Chloe and Delphine were. He told her that they were with him. Isabel said that she had wanted Chloe to meet Tilda Swinton, and that it might have been her only chance to do so. Charlie said that Tilda and Astrid were friends, so Chloe might have still had a chance. The mention of Astrid enraged Isabel, but Charlie insisted on hanging up and going back to sleep, promising that he’d see Isabel later in the morning.
What Charlie didn’t know was that Isabel was in his new house in Shek O. She had sneaked past her security team and driven there, leaving her own party. Walking around the house, she became more enraged. She took out her cell phone and found a video clip of Charlie and Astrid having sex. She then sent the video to a gossip columnist’s WeChat with the message that Astrid Leong had “stolen [her] life” (316). Isabel then climbed to the top of the dining room table, took off her velvet gown, rolled it into a rope, threw one end around the chandelier and the coiled the other around her neck. She walked to the edge of the table and jumped.
Carlton told his sister, Rachel, about the disastrous meeting with Scheherazade’s parents. Scheherazade had left for Paris that morning and wasn’t responding to Carlton’s texts. Rachel encouraged him to do more—fly to Paris and try to win her back. If Scheherazade was frightened by Colette’s story, Rachel argued, Carlton had to show her who he really was.
Meanwhile, Jack Bing entered Tyersall Park and marveled at its splendor. The Young sisters all nodded politely as Jack spoke, not understanding much of his Mandarin. He and Kitty liked the house, but didn’t recognize the significance of its décor—neither the Moorish tiles in the reflecting pool nor the furniture in Sir James Young’s library, which was designed by Pierre Jeanneret in the late-1940s. Jack noted that the furniture reminded him of the nightclubs in old Shanghai where his grandfather had played trumpet in a jazz band. Jack offered to buy the furniture, too. He also asked for the rug.
Felicity looked down at the rug and remembered a story that her aunt Rosemary T’sien had told her about how Su Yi had convinced a Japanese general not to shoot her by mentioning that, in doing so, he would ruin the beautiful art deco rug from Paris, designed by Christian Bérard. The general took the rug. In exchange, he released Rosemary’s husband from prison. After the war, the general was executed for war crimes. Soon thereafter, the rug was sent back to Tyersall Park. Rosemary figured that the general’s wife never liked it. Felicity snapped out of her daydream to tell Jack that the rug wasn’t for sale.
Later, in conference with Nick and Rachel, Nick asked if his aunts really wanted to sell the house to the Bings. Felicity insisted that it was hard to refuse $10 billion. Furthermore, the Bings intended to preserve the house. Rachel remembered that the Bings included Colette. Nick reminded them that Colette had her personal assistant, Roxanne, try to poison Rachel. Felicity and Victoria were shocked to hear this, but Oliver insisted that Jack and Kitty were estranged from Colette. Nick mulled this over. He then asked his aunts that, if he could match Jack’s offer, would they sell him the house? Felicity agreed that they would give him a month to come up with the money.
Astrid entered the Capella on Sentosa to meet with the acquisitions board of the Singapore Museum of Modern Art. The board was comprised of young collectors from the city’s most elite families. Astrid Leong was chairperson. When she entered, she greeted her cousin, Sophie Khoo, then took her place at the long table, to everyone else’s shock.
One of the board members, Sarita Singh, rose to say that she had expected Astrid to resign. She started a motion to remove Astrid from the board. Sarita’s reasoning was that they would lose funding, as the museum’s reputation would have been hurt by its association with Astrid. Confused, Sophie took her cousin’s arm and ushered her out of the room, where she showed Astrid the video that Isabel had leaked to a gossip columnist. The video had gone viral.
Astrid asked Sophie to tell the other board members that she had to go get Cassian out of school. In her car, she rang Charlie but kept getting his voicemail. When her phone rang, she answered, thinking it was him; it was Felicity instead. Her mother was horrified, but told Astrid that she and Henry had already arranged to get Cassian. Astrid, however, wasn’t allowed anywhere near their house. Furthermore, Astrid’s behavior risked harming both Henry’s reputation and the sale of Tyersall Park. Charlie was calling; Astrid switched over. He asked her to pull over the car.
Charlie proceeded to tell Astrid that it was Isabel who leaked the video. She also told her that Isabel had tried to hang herself and was now in a coma that the doctors weren’t sure she’d come out of. Astrid broke down crying.
In these chapters, the narrative explores what it means to live between worlds.
Philip Young has rejected the exceptionally privileged life he had in Singapore in favor of the more modest and self-defined one that he made for himself in Australia. His wish to be buried in Bondi Beach is an admission that this is his true home—the place where he achieved a degree of self-actualization.
Carlton and Scheherazade bond over their shared sense of having divided identities. Carlton expresses his feeling of not relating much to the Chinese in Shanghai due to being so Westernized, yet retaining enough of his Mainland identity to feel ill at ease in Singapore, where people conformed more to Western standards. Scheherazade is ambivalent over her interracial identity and her inability, she feels, to respond inadequately to others’ need to categorize her.
The name Scheherazade is based on a major female character and narrator in the classic Middle Eastern story collection One Thousand and One Nights. The name signals one who has a “noble” or “exalted” lineage. Kwan’s choice to give this name to a direct descendant of Alfred Shang is indicative of her elite status.
In this chapter, the reader also encounters the second key event that hinders Charlie and Astrid’s union—Isabel’s attempted suicide. Her suicide attempt triggers Astrid’s feelings of guilt, which are the likely culmination of the pressures inflicted by her family and the unflattering gossip about her relationship with Charlie.
By Kevin Kwan