Jasmine nights

Jasmine Nights is a tragi-comic, semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel by S. P. Somtow, set in Bangkok in 1963. The story follows twelve-year-old Justin, a boy also known as 'Little Frog,' who has been left in the care of his wealthy, eccentric aristocratic relatives—three maiden aunts, an ancient great-great-grandmother, and an uncle—on a secluded estate. The boy, who was raised in England and insists on speaking English, is an intellectual and lonely child who prefers the logic of the West and the worlds within his books to the bewildering rituals of his Thai family. His solitary existence is shattered when he forms an uneasy friendship with the family gardener's son and a young, African-American boy named Virgil. Over the course of a year marked by a tumultuous inner and outer journey, Justin grapples with issues of racism, social class, his own sexual awakening, and the global events of the time, such as the American Civil Rights movement and the Kennedy assassination, discovering the true meaning of friendship and the resilient nature of the human spirit.

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