Persecuted in Thailand, a group of missionaries went on to establish Malaya’s greatest contribution to Asia’s networks of knowledge. A mining engineer desperately searched for gold in Sumatra, but instead found tin in Perak. A planter sailed inadvertently to a new land and won a Goncourt prize for his vivid descriptions of what he saw. An enterprising man pasted a rooster on a tin of sardines, creating what would become one of the most well-known food brands in Malaysia... In editing and writing French Memories of Malaysia, the author Serge Jardin is surely the first to collect in one place nearly a hundred tales of French men and women who travelled to, explored, documented, fictionalized, and influenced each of the Malaysian states: the tales of priests, pilots, authors, architects, planters, philosophers, scientists, sailors, marauders, tricksters, and many more. Some names – the de La Salle brothers, Henri Fauconnier, Jean Cocteau, and Jacques Cousteau – may be familiar to history lovers, but others less so. These riveting characters left a mark on the country now called Malaysia, or, perhaps, it was Malaysia that left a mark on them. In documenting these stories, French Memories adds wonderful texture to Malaysia’s rich cultural history, making it a worthy read for anyone interested in discovering the world as it once was a frontier of excitement, waiting to be explored.