Four Reigns

M. R. Kukrit Pramoj’s longest and best-known novel is the rich and entertaining story of the life of Phloi and her family, both inside and outside palace walls. The story begins during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (King Rama V) in the closing years of the 1800s and ends in the mid-1940s with the death of his grandson, King Ananda Mahidol (King Rama VIII). Over a span of four reigns, we see the lives of minor courtiers under the absolute monarchy and watch the huge social and political ch...