Song for an Approaching Storm - Softcover

In the hot, rainy summer of 1955, Cambodia is in upheaval. The first democratic elections, just weeks away, will determine not only the future of a country, but the happiness of three people.

Sar is a quiet, serious schoolteacher, officially campaigning for the opposition, who is secretly working for an armed Communist takeover. Many years later, he will become known to the world as Pol Pot.

Somaly young, fragile, beautiful refuses to be tied down. She is the woman Sar loves, the woman for whom he is willing to sacrifice his most dearly held beliefs.

And Sary is the ruthless deputy prime minister determined to keep the opposition from power by any means, and to make Somaly his lover.

Amidst the poverty and the cocktail parties, the silk dresses, the divided loyalties and betrayals, a love triangle unfolds which will decide the fate of a nation.

'A wonderfully evocative picture of a chaotic country about to explode into war'The Times

'Beautifully evocative... must-read novel' Daily Mail

'A tormented love story weaved inside a political thriller in south-east Asia the language is like poetry' Company

'So assured it is hard to believe it is a debut' Sunday Telegraph

'I wonder if I've ever read a debut novel as good' SR Kulturnytt

Exquisite... overwhelming Arbetarbladet

'The atmosphere he creates is mysterious and frightening; his prose is poetic and compact' Trouw Letter & Geest

'It's rare to come across such a confident debut novel... [an] exceptional, vibrant and tense piece of historical fiction' The Lady

'One of the finest literary debuts in decades, at least'Boras Tidning

Peter Fröberg Idling was born in Stockholm 1972. He began working as a freelance journalist during university and, after graduating from law school, spent two years in Cambodia as legal advisor to a human rights organization. He published Pol Pot s Smile in 2006. Song for an Approaching Storm, his first novel, was published in Sweden in 2012 to great acclaim. It is being translated into eight languages. Peter is now based in Stockholm, with his partner and two children, dividing his time between literary criticism and work on his second novel.