A vivacious dance-hall girl in 1930s colonial Malaysia is drawn into unexpected danger by the discovery of a severed finger that is being sought by a young houseboy in order to protect his late master's soul.

"From New York Times bestselling author Yangsze Choo, a novel set in 1930s colonial Malaysia that pulls the reader into a world of servants and masters, age-old superstition and modern idealism, sibling rivalry and forbidden love, and a child and a young woman searching for their place in a society that would rather they stay invisible"--