Burma was once the richest country in Asia. Now, it is the poorest country in Asia. This book was his first novel. This was written before he became famous as the authors of "1984" and "Animal Farm". The book was rejected by several publishers mainly because the characters resembled real people and the publishers feared the libel laws. According to this book, many of the British officers in Burma took Burmese mistresses and fathered illegitimate children by them. The children were left behind when the British had pulled out by 1947. It should be possible to locate the fathers by DNA testing.