Woman of Malacca (1937)

Audrey finds a job of music teacher in a chic school ,run by horrible spinsters where her Mona Lisa smile does not win her colleagues' esteem;a M.O.about to leave for the broader horizons of Malaysia proposes marriage to her;she hesitates ,but her smoking not allowed in the posh school is the straw that breaks the camel's back:soon she is sailing on a luxury liner with a new husband . Audrey has not been on the ship all of five minutes that she meets a prince of Malaysia ,Selim,and it's (almost) love at first sight. In Malaysia,where English "collaborate" with natives ,Audrey ,who threatens to become another exotic Madame Bovary writes an article,much to the macho hubby's displeasure :" you can write about fashion or cooking ,but don't you ever dabble in politics!" Prince Selim confided to her that "although he is a powerful noble,he 's been an outcast all of his life ;when he studied in England,the racist students kept him in the background ,and now he is a solitary man whose burden is too heavy for his shoulders .