The Moonlight Palace by Liz Rosenberg

Good morning, everyone! Today I'm a stop on the TLC book tour for Liz Rosenberg's The Moonlight Palace.

Agnes has lived all her life in the crumbling ruins of the Kampong Glam palace. The last descendant of the Sultan of Singapore, her history is inextricably tied to that of the island. Agnes and her few remaining relatives - her Uncle Chachi (who is actually her great uncle), British Grandfather, and his wife Nei-Nei Down - rely on the family stipend (which continues due to some accounting error) and British Grandfather's pension from the military, along with income from boarders, to keep themselves afloat. But it's not enough. Agnes is old enough now to help, and that is what she vows to do, all the while hoping that she can save their Moonlight Palace.

I was pleasantly surprised by The Moonlight Palace and Agnes in particular. From the start, her voice rings loud and true, drawing the reader into a story that is rich with both history and emotion. Much of the focus of the story is her coming of age, but I found it to be a rather well-rounded tale as a whole. Though it is a rather short read, Rosenberg did a great job weaving in the history, setting the scene quite nicely for both Singapore in the 1920s and of the raggedy palace. And though Agnes herself is a force, the rest of the characters that surround her are quite nicely developed as well.

Singapore's history is not something I know a terribly lot about but I find it to be utterly fascinating. And while I didn't necessarily plan to follow up one Singapore read with another (this read comes somewhat on the tail of the latest Ovidia Yu in my TBR) I did love going back to it as a setting.

To see more stops on the tour be sure to check out the official TLC tour page here.