The garden of evening mists is the second english language novel by malaysian novelist tan twan eng first published in january 2012the book follows protagonist teoh yun ling who was a prisoner of the japanese during the world war ii and later became a judge overseeing war crimes casesseeking after the war to create a garden in memory of her sister who was imprisoned with her but did not . Aritomo refuses to work for yun ling but instead takes her in as an apprentice so that she can build her own garden residing in the tea room yun ling begins working at the garden of evening mists and learns to design a garden yet outside of the malaysian jungle another war is waging in malaysia in a continued state of emergency. The garden of evening mists won the man asian literary prize 2012 and the 2013 walter scott prize for historical fiction and was shortlisted for the man booker prize 2012 and the 2014 international impac dublin literary award he divides his time between kuala lumpur and cape town wwwtantwanengcom. The garden of evening mists offers action packed end of empire storytelling in the vein of tans compatriot tash aw his fictional garden cultivates formal harmony but also undermines it it unmasks sophisticated artistry as a partner of pain and lies