John Corner has written an extraordinary book.* For years, the titular suitcase lay unopened in his house, its contents unknown. It represented sadness and pain. The suitcase had been willed to Corner by his father, a complex man who had rejected his 19-year old son and refused ever to see him again. When Corner eventually brought himself to open the suitcase, decades later, out came one hell of story.

As Corner began to explore the books, letters and photos he found, he began to learn things about his father for the first time. Who was this man who had hurt him so? Corner turned detective to find out more.

The author came to know that his father, EJH Corner, was a botanist, a brilliant scientist whose legacy is immense. He discovered dozens of new species, aided by trained monkeys he took into the rainforest. He was a pioneer of conservation – large areas of tropical forest are protected because of him. And he was a brilliant writer, communicating the complexity and beauty of tropical botany in vivid prose. During World War II, his devotion to science would leave him falsely labelled a traitor.

This fascinating man had his flaws. His scientific drive always came first. His temperament was spiky. His family suffered. His marriage disintegrated. He spurned his son and refused to make peace. That’s what makes this book all the more remarkable. John Corner shows great grace in how he writes about the man who made him suffer. He is fair to the father who failed him in so many ways.

While this book is about a particular man in a particular time, it is a deeper meditation on father-son relationships. Long after reading the book, I find myself wondering did EJH Corner set his son a test in that suitcase? Was he harbouring guilt? Did the suitcase contain love?

John K. Corner. My Father in his Suitcase: In Search of E.J.H. Corner the Relentless Botanist. Landmark Books Pte.Ltd ,Singapore (2 Oct. 2014). [see Amazon]

*I am grateful to John K. Corner for help he provided when I was writing my own book — published in the UK as Ladders to Heaven and in North America as Gods, Wasps and Stranglers — in which one chapter features EJH Corner and his exploits.