"Unwed and pregnant, Shakilah Nair has just returned to Singapore after fifteen years in America. The women of the neighborhood and all her old acquaintances revel in their gossip, airing speculations that are dark and wondrously imagined.".

"They are Straits Chinese, Indian, Malay, or a combination, and their world - contemporary Singapore - is populated by an array of spirits, seen and unseen: ghosts, vampires, and other phantoms of the shadows. Their actions are circumscribed by the spirits' powers; their comfort comes equally from the Catholic church and from the local witch doctor.

The questions they feel impelled to resolve are the identity of the mysterious diamond woman, who is said to have used a magic potion on her husband, and the reason for Shakilah's return."--BOOK JACKET.