Moonshine in the Morning

As sharp and delicious as a Thai red curry, the beautifully crafted interlinking narratives of Moonshine in the Morning present an unforgettable cast of strong-minded women and their wayward husbands clinging to village life in Thailand before the relentless advance of modernity.

How can Mother Nong and Mother Pensri save their menfolk from terrifying visions of “widow ghosts”, when Uncle Lai’s moonshine stall does such brisk business? What drastic steps will Mother Suree take to curb her husband’s infidelities on the eve of the Loy Krathong festival? And is the sacred banyan tree dying because the men are gambling about its size, or because the women are lighting too many oil lamps under its ancient boughs? Achieving both charm and authenticity, Andrea McNicoll subtly builds up her characters and themes to create a world so distant in its geography, and yet so familiar in its intimate human dramas, as to be utterly irresistible.