The Moonlight Palace

By: Liz Rosenberg

Narrated by: Amy McFadden

Agnes Hussein, descendant of the last sultan of Singapore and the last surviving member of her immediate family, has grown up among her eccentric relatives in the crumbling Kampong Glam palace, a once-opulent relic given to her family in exchange for handing over Singapore to the British.

Now Agnes is seventeen and her family has fallen into genteel poverty, surviving on her grandfather’s pension and the meager income they receive from a varied cast of boarders. As outside forces conspire to steal the palace out from under them, Agnes struggles to save her family and finds bravery, love, and loyalty in the most unexpected places. The Moonlight Palace is a coming-of-age tale rich with historical detail and unforgettable characters set against the backdrop of dazzling 1920s Singapore.

©2014 Liz Rosenberg (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

Short Enchanting Listen

I loved this story of the heirs to the last sultan of Singapore and the palace Kampong Glam, which I knew nothing about until I listened to The Moonlight Palace. Impressionable Agnes, the 17 year old the last heir to the estate, is both naive and brave. Her telling of life in the palace and of both sets of grandparents (upstairs and downstairs) is touching, funny, and the substance of the woman she will become. Historical fiction at its best

terrific loved it it kept yu in story time line

it was read very good for time explaining of country side kept you interested great

Almost Magical, Entirely Bewitching

I listened to the sample and was drawn in so completely, that I had to have the full audiobook. This was a "coming of age" story for a young woman who was the last of a formerly royal family in the Singapore of the 1920s. All the nuances of the multicultural mishmash of Singapore came shining through the story of this girl who was part Singapore Muslim, part Chinese, and part English. When the story opens, Agnes is 17 years old, in her final year of high school, and living with Great Uncle Chachi (Singaporean), English Grandfather, and Chinese Grandmother - who is known as Nei-Nei Down because she and English Grandfather live in the downstairs of the family's crumbling palace home.

The palace the family lives in is the source of the name of the book. The story revolves ostensibly around "how to keep the palace, and how to keep it livable", while really in my opinion it is the story of Agnes transitioning from impetuous school girl to competent young woman.

I wish I had a Nei-Nei like Nei-Nei Down, and a Great Uncle like Uncle Chachi, and a best friend like Agnes's best friend(s). This was an absolute jewel of a story, that had very little plot or purpose other than to follow Agnes on her journey through life in that last year between childhood and adult.

It was spectacularly narrated - the first I have heard with Amy McFadden - and it may have spoiled me for this narrator for she will forever be Agnes to my ears.

Very enjoyable

A lovely story with wonderful characters and a vivid sense of place, time and culture.

Singapore Style Story

Great story and narration. Showed what life was like in the Lion City in the 1920s. As told through the perspective of a teenage girl, the main character, Agnes Hussein endured hardships along with the old members of her family but in the end they were given hope of a new life.

For so many years they clung to the old Moonlight Palace which symbolised their former status being descendants of a sultan. But times have changed and this is a story of surviving in the new Singapore.

Any reader who is fond of Singapore, its culture and history will surely enjoy the story.