Summary

The Night Tiger begins with the death of Dr. MacFarlane, an aging English doctor living in Malaysia. Ren, his houseboy, cares for him on his deathbed. In his last moments, the doctor makes Ren promise to find and return his missing finger to his grave “’before the forty-nine days of my soul are over” (1).

The next chapter switches from Ren’s perspective to Ji Lin’s first person narration. Ji Lin works at the May Flower Dance Hall in Ipoh as a dance “instructor,” but knows it the implications of her work are shameful, and so keeps her job a secret. Working part-time at the dance hall and as a seamstress to pay off her mother’s mahjong debts and establish her independence, Ji Lin’s life changes when dances with a suspicious and leering salesman. As he dips her low to the ground...