Into Focus

Set in Burma, Daniel Gawthrop’s Double Karma could have been a work of non-fiction. His previous titles treat a broad range of subjects, including AIDS activism, environmentalism, and conservative Catholicism, but this time the author from British Columbia took a stab at novel writing. The result is a fast-paced, compelling narrative of mistaken identity, travel, and love, one that is deeply entwined with a long history of cultural and political conflict in the country that was officially renamed Myanmar in 1989. The adventure begins around that time and ends in 2013 (the year Gawthrop and his spouse, who was born in Burma, lived in the country’s largest city, Yangon). As the plot develops, readers come to see the lingering impact of the 1962 and 1988 coups by the military, often called the Tatmadaw.

Min Lin, the protagonist, is an aspiring photographer and a refugee raised in...