I put off reading this book for quite a while because of its size but, in actuality, it didn't take that long to read. I've read a few of Bryce Courtenay's books before and while this one wasn't quite as good as the South African novels I read it was still very interesting. As Courtenay died in 2012 this is one of his last books.

Simon Koo, nicknamed Fortune Cookie by his friends in Australia, is the heir to a considerable family fortune but he really wants to be a painter. He compromised by going into advertising. His mother, the real head of the family business, expects Simon to marry and produce children. So far there has been no woman Simon has felt strongly enough about to even considering marriage. The firm where Simon works is partially owned by an American firm and when they decide to acquire an interest in an advertising firm in Singapore Simon is asked to go there for 3 years as the creative director due to his Chinese ancestry. Simon's mother is from Singapore originally and she thinks this job is a great opportunity, mostly because it will allow Simon to meet a potential bride. It also seems to carry out a prophecy from an ancestor who was the first Koo to arrive in Australia. Simon is met at the airport by a lovely young Singaporean, Mercy B. Lord, who is to be his guide for his first two weeks. Mercy was raised in a Catholic orphanage where she was left shortly after World War II. It is probable that her father was a Japanese soldier, one of the many who occupied Singapore during the war. Simon is smitten by Mercy B. Lord (as she is always referred to; the nun who found her on the steps of the orphanage was so startled she exclaimed "Mercy Be, Lord." and that name stuck). He is not so impressed with the Wing Brothers advertising firm that he is supposed to bring into the 20th century. Deals in Singapore are dependent on squeeze "the all-pervading system of bribery, inducements, cuts and percentages" and advertising in the Wing Brothers business is no exception. Although Simon gets along fairly well with the youngest Wing brother, Ronnie, he certainly gets off on the wrong foot with the other two brothers. His American superior isn't much help because he is an alcoholic who is never available after the lunch hour and is so hung over every morning he doesn't get into work until 9 am. Simon works hard and he also woos Mercy B. Lord hard. And he incurs success in both areas, creating some great advertising and getting Mercy B. Lord to move in with him. Mercy B. Lord has a big secret that requires her to be away every Thursday including overnight and into Friday. She tells Simon not to question her about this but Simon is worried she is involved in something dangerous. It creates tension in their relationship and eventually causes them to break up. To assuage his broken heart Simon completes a portrait of Mercy B. Lord that he calls Thursday Girl. He sends it off to an international show in Hong Kong and it wins. Simon hopes that Mercy B. Lord will agree to accompany him to the awards banquet but he hasn't even been able to talk to her. It's obvious that they will eventually get back together but the international drug trade run out of Singapore is a major impediment.

I've never been to Singapore but I understand it is one of the cleanest and lovliest cities in southeast Asia. I learned from this book that it wasn't always that way. In the 1960s when Simon first came to Singapore it was smelly and dirty and toilets were awful. The authoritarian Peoples Action Party elected in 1959 and in power ever since tramples on human rights but certainly cleaned up the city and made it an economic powerhouse. ( )

Fortune Cookie sat on my bookshelf, patiently waiting its turn to be read for nearly twelve months. I just wish I had picked it up at an earlier time as it is one of those books that keeps the midnight oil burning and, unfortunately, brings a good story to an end all too quickly.

This narrative commences during Australia’s gold rush of the 1850s with the main characters soon finding ways to make a living other than digging for gold. The stage is set for the reader to be whisked briefly into the seventh decade of the twentieth century Sydney and the lives of the now prosperous descendants of the original characters, prior to moving to north to Singapore’s emerging business world, its beautiful women, a struggling creative advertising director, drugs and evil madams, ‘businessmen’ and remnants of British colonial rule, which all combine to provide an exciting backdrop for this yarn. Added to this are healthy doses of suspense, intrigue and an ending which I did not anticipate. These attributes ensured that Bryce Courtenay’s “Fortune Cookie” is on my favourites list.
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This is the twentieth book written by Bryce Courtney. It is set in Singapore and follows an Australian trying to make a life for himself. It's an interesting examination of the way business was conducted in Singapore in the 1970's. An enjoyable book if you can get past the beginning, which I have heard that many people struggle to do. ( )

Bryce Courtenay was an Australian author who wrote over 20 books before his death in 2012. Unfortunately with the exception of " The Power of One" finding his books in the USA can be a challenge. Amazon has a number of them available for Kindle but if like me you are less a fan of ebooks, your best bet is www.bookdepository.com in Britain who have great prices and FREE shipping.
Fortune Cookie tells the story of Simon Koo a fourth generation Chinese man who is sent to Singapore in the 1960's to set up the creative department of an advertising agency. Simon while being Chinese is completely out of his element regarding the Chinese ways in Singapore. The history of Singapore, the opium wars, what happened during WWII and how it discarded its former reputation as a whore house and opium den to the beginnings of what Singapore is today is fascinating. It is also a love story with Simon falling for a woman he is not supposed to have.
The book is over 570 pages and some of the side and background stories tend to be far wordier than they needed to be, the first quarter of the book is a bit slow, it seems to take forever for Simon to get to Singapore, and, as this is an Australian book it is loaded with Australian and a British colloquialisms that are sometimes explained and sometimes not. Regardless this was another great book from an author who did not get the kind of attention here in the USA he deserved. ( )

Not as good as The Power Of One. ( )