There are some great novels set in Burma. Below are some recommendations. You will also find most of the books on this list in our small board library. Please let us know if you have any other suggestions for our library.

For our complete list of reading recommendations, please have a look here.

“The Glass Palace”, by Amitav Gosh, 2000

“The Glass Palace” was translated into 25 languages and is the winner of several literary awards. The publisher writes: Set in Burma during the British invasion of 1885, the novel tells the story of a poor boy lifted on the tides of political and social chaos, who goes on to build a logging empire in the Burmese teak forest. When soldiers force the royal family out of the Glass Palace and into exile in India, Rajkumar befriends Dolly, a young woman in the court of the Burmese Queen, whose love will shape his life. He cannot forget her, and years later, as a rich man, he travels to India in search of her.

“Burmese Days”, by George Orwell, 1934

Burmese Days is a novel set during the wane of British imperialism in Burma, based on Orwell’s experience working for the Indian Imperial Police force there in the 1920s. The Chicago Tribune describes the book as “a well integrated, fast-moving story of what life was like in a remote backcountry Asiatic station.”