TASH AW
Map of the Invisible World
Fourth Estate
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.4thestate.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by Fourth Estate 2009
Copyright © Tash Aw 2009
Cover credit © Jack Smyth; Figure photo © Plainpicture / Willing-Holtz; Texture © Unsplash
Tash Aw asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780007349982
Ebook Edition © JULY 2009 ISBN: 9780007337576
Version: 2019-02-20
For my sisters LL and SL
Did I not once upon a time have a lovable childhood, heroic and fabulous, to be written on leaves of gold, an excess of good fortune?
RIMBAUD, Matin
His voice lasted just a few moments. A fleeting tremor, never to be repeated.
PRAMOEDYA ANANTA TOER, ‘Yang Sudah Hilang’
‘My dreams are like other people’s waking hours…My memory, sir, is like a garbage heap.’
BORGES, ‘Funes, His Memory’
Contents
Dedication