I will go to the forest for justice,
For justice and righteousness,
And become a green-clad man.
The rulers pursue me with soldiers,
With riders, chariots and spears.
I will go to the forest for justice,
The people will flock to me.
I right their wrongs from the green shade,
And kill the rulers with arrows.
The horsemen stumble with fear.
I will go to the forest for justice.
The wind for my garment I wear.
Together with my many companions,
The wind for my garment and the rain my drink,
We build a new heaven and earth.

It is necessary to quote the poem from which the title comes in full because it sets the tone, the stage and the tapestry for what the book tries passionately to communicate. The character Evangeline who sings this song, the author tells us, sang in a harsh, unmelodic voice pitched higher than normal, off-key and haunted with the old longing and grievance, old as the world of man. Old as the world of man: yes, because the lyrics, the words of the poem sung as song, serve as incantation, both demanding a keen listening and also providing a rich, ancient evocation through the use of allusion. Han Suyin, was more than a medical doctor; her keen eye and ear and no doubt the detailed discipline of the medical training all come to her aid when she is narrating an incident, describing a scene, crafting a character, dramatising a plot. Repeatedly, interspersed throughout And The Rain My Drink are allusions, giveaways, references to numerous ‘others’: historic events, writers, poems, novels, stories, songs. When I was young the song Han Suyin mentions in her novel—‘Rose, Rose I Love You’—used to be very popular. Rose was a real person though the name was a pseudonym. I remember meeting her when she was performing at the old Happy World Stadium in Singapore—a world frequented by the likes of my late Uncle Bill where life became like a dream …