Penang Appointment

by Norman Collins

A psychological romance of love and fear and sudden death on Eastern Seas.

280 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1934

About the author

Norman Collins born 3 October 1907, died 1982, was a British writer, and later a radio and television executive, who became one of the major figures behind the establishment of the Independent Television (ITV) network in the UK. This was the first organisation to break the BBC’s broadcasting monopoly when it began transmitting in 1955.

Reviews

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the thriller title, this is a period Shipboard Romance, set in some unspecified time when the British Empire was at its widest, most unparalleled extent, perhaps the twenties.

Penang Appointment only drifts nearby the same stream as more trenchant material, like say, Maugham's Casuarina Tree or similar colonial commentary. The charm here is that almost every turn is entertaining or diverting; it's a lightweight romantic farce that doesn't reach for heavy themes and moves along at a good clip. This could very well be the novel being read on the next deck-chair over, on the same eastward passage it describes.

The distinct Age-Of-Steam period touches are noticeably present in the early going, and even the ports of call draw the reader into that very different era : Gibraltar, Port Said, Suez, Aden, Taiping, Rangoon...

The Captain saw Stephen at once and sauntered good-humouredly over to him. "Nearing Gib." he said. There was something irreverent to Stephen's ears in this abbreviation of Gibraltar, like calling the Matterhorn the "Mat" ...
"It will be abeam at about ten o'clock," the Captain explained, as though it were the [ship]Tusitala which was stationary, rooted into the earth's solid foundations, and Gibraltar which was steadily advancing at the Captain's orders.

Overall, a weightless comedy of manners that goes bedroom-farce at some point, absolutely nothing of any consequence here. But an entertaining read, nonetheless, if only on the basis of passages like these, the setting and atmosphere only operative on trans-oceanic ships :

The saloon was occupied by people whom he had not seen before, isolated human forms sitting by themselves, hidden behind newspapers, thinking private thoughts. These people Stephen discovered to be one of the mysteries of ocean travel. They haunted the ship like ghosts, quietly and decorously. They avoided meals and crowded occasions. If a concert was in progress in the saloon, they were to be found on deck huddled in rugs upon deck chairs. If everyone else was on deck looking at a passing liner, they hid below in the saloon, silent and unobserved. And they were numberless. Every second or third day a new figure, pale and wan, wrapped in ridiculous additional clothing, would appear for a few fleeting moments, striving to enjoy the wind and the sun of the upper air. But invariably they seemed to find the ordinary conditions of human life too boisterous for them, and they would return shivering to their oubliettes, to reappear somewhat startlingly after the mere fact of their existence had been forgotten.

For me, it's the period feel and the era that resonates; this volume is an early effort after all, and isn't one of the author's more famous outings anyway. For the epicure, it's a nice luxury to acclimate to the ways of the author before approaching the more renowned works.

[William Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyable. Good characters and a plot that moves at pace. After discovering Collins he is now becoming my favourite author. Old library stock. Some of his works are very hard to find.