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Cigarette Girl book cover
Cigarette Girl
2012
First Published
4.14
Average Rating
288
Number of Pages

Pak Raja is gravely ill. On his deathbed, he calls the name of a woman who isn’t his wife: Jeng Yah. His three sons, the heirs to the Djagad Raja Clove Cigarette dynasty, are thrown into an uproar and their mother is consumed by jealousy. Racing against time, Lebas, Karim and Tegar go to the most remote corners of Java to fi nd Jeng Yah before death comes to claim their father. The journey takes them on a winding path as they uncover business and family secrets. Lebas, Karim, and Tegar discover the origins of Djagad Raja Clove Cigarettes and how it came to be the number one kretek in Indonesia. The three brothers also learn about the love between their father and Jeng Yah. Jeng Yah was the owner of a local kretek business, Lady Cigarettes, which was quite famous in its time… But will Lebas, Karim, and Tegar be able to fi nd Jeng Yah herself, and reunite her with their father? Cigarette Girl is a story about love and the main characters’ search for their own identity. But it is also more; told against the backdrop of M Town, Kudus and Jakarta, from the time of Dutch Occupation through independence and beyond, Cigarette Girl introduces the reader to the history of the clove cigarette industry in Indonesia—which is rich and complex like the fragrance of tobacco, and laden with the aroma of love.

Avg Rating
4.14
Number of Ratings
6,190
5 STARS
35%
4 STARS
45%
3 STARS
17%
2 STARS
2%
1 STARS
0%
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Author

Ratih Kumala
Ratih Kumala
Author · 9 books

Ratih Kumala, lahir di Jakarta, tahun 1980. Buku pertamanya, novel berjudul Tabula Rasa (Grasindo 2004, GPU 2014), memenangkan Sayembara Menulis Novel Dewan Kesenian Jakarta 2003. Novel keduanya, Genesis (Insist Press, 2005). Kumpulan cerita pendeknya, Larutan Senja (Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2006). Buku keempat berjudul Kronik Betawi (novel/GPU, 2009) yang sebelum terbit sebagai buku juga terbit sebagi cerita bersambung di harian Republika 2008. Buku kelimanya berjudul Gadis Kretek (GPU, 2012) dan buku keenamnya adalah Bastian dan Jamur Ajaib (GPU, 2015). Novelnya Gadis Kretek (GPU, 2012) masuk dalam Top 5 kategori prosa Khatulistiwa Literary Award 2012, dan telah diterjemahkan ke Bahasa Inggris –Cigarette Girl (GPU, 2015), bahasa Jerman – Das Zigarettenmadchen (culturbooks publishing, 2015), dan tengah diterjemahkan ke Bahasa Arab untuk diterbitkan di Mesir. Selain menulis fiksi, Ratih juga menulis skenario untuk televisi dan film layar lebar. Saat ini ia tinggal di Jakarta.

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