New Zealand Listener

Acts of war

"The novel examines what it is to carry the legacy of colonialism in your body.

THE STORM WE MADE

by Vanessa Chan (Hodder &Stoughton, $37.99)

Malaysian author Vanessa Chan draws on her family history for this gripping story about a family in Kuala Lumpur over two time periods – in 1935 in the run-up to World War II and in the final throes of it in 1945.

Cecily Alcantara, a clever young Eurasian, is a bored housewife and mother in Malaya who has always felt looked down upon by the British, who are occupying the country. She finds herself falling for the charms of Bingley Chan, who says

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