Geetha’s seemingly perfect world is shattered when she loses her husband of five years, forcing her into a period of introspection.
Her younger brother, Yuva, has to confront his own prejudices as his relationship with his partner gradually crumbles by the day.
Sabitha-their cousin and the youngest of the three-is about to reveal a secret that she had kept from her family for many years, and has to live with the repercussions.
As they deal with their personal troubles, the cousins encounter and bond with other Malaysian Indians who are trying to break the shackles of tradition.
Together, they attempt to reconcile their identities with their culture and heritage, while realising that acceptance is sometimes found in the unlikeliest of places.
Catagory: Fiction
The Elephant Trophy and Other Stories
The Elephant Trophy and Other Stories is a collection of 18 slice-of-life short stories featuring nuanced and diverse depictions of the Indian community in Malaysia. The overall theme of this collection echoes the outer and inner demons that possess the Malaysian Indian community. Specifically, the stories dictate the outlook of their lives as both Indians and Malaysians. The collection covers themes such as socio-politics, socio-economic imbalance, gender issues, social class juxtaposed to community values.
Racket and Other Stories
‘You will keep hearing the insistent racket of these stories long after you set this fine collection down.’
-Professor Darryl Whetter, author of the cli-fi novel Our Sands
This collection of short stories exposes the minuscule rebels trapped inside many of us – the obedient, law-abiding tenants – living in Singapore who are trying to break out of conforming to the country’s conservative social norms, risking stigma and gossip. On one extreme, a minority of us have the courage to let the recalcitrant rebels take charge from the beginning in order to live as we wish. Others may require some external nudging to act, yet some may ultimately still retreat to the status quo, to a prescribed acceptable social behaviour, instead of risking any fracas.
Speed of Lightness
Kyoto University student Aozora Fujiwara has been playing too much mah-jong and now he’s deep in debt. When Aunt Okane (‘money’) dies and leaves a collection of priceless art to him and his sister, Mai, he thinks his problems are solved. But they’re only just beginning: Mai’s disappeared and he can’t liquidate the estate without her. The quest that ensues takes Aozora to the deep south of Japan and the unlikely setting of a
Dutch theme park called, Amsterland…
The joy in Sherwood’s tale is in Aozora’s madcap journey, during which he meets a slew of silly-and often sinister-souls. Among them: an oyster-loving businessman who sells lifelike inflatable dolls, and a corpulent crime boss who looks like a cross between Liberace and Kim Jong-Il. In his carefully woven descriptions, Sherwood shows unusual insight into a fastchanging society of disaffected youth and sleazy governance. This picaresque on steroids offers a refreshingly irreverent look at contemporary life in a not entirely implausible Japan.
Last Kid Running: Night of the Six Headed Robogator
Welcome to Book 2 of the thrilling LAST KID RUNNING gamebook series, where YOU decide how the story unfolds. You are Runner X, one of six eager contestants on the biggest reality show streaming on the mobile web.
This time, you’re taken to a secret venue in Indonesia. The enigmatic Dr Yamato has created a massive Run Dome filled with crazy technological inventions to challenge you and amuse his viewers.
You’re prepared to face anything, even the intimidating Six Headed Robogator. But the night gets creepy. And you can’t help feeling that the Run Dome hides a nasty surprise in its shadows.
Will you be too overwhelmed to outrun the others? Or do you have what it takes to be the LAST KID RUNNING? Quick, open the book and find out!
The Arches of Gerrard Street
The shooting of Molly’s childhood friend in London’s Chinatown has led her from Batu Pahat in Malaysia to the British capital to find answers. Who murdered him? And why? She soon becomes embroiled in a web of deceit spun in an immigrant enclave shrouded in secrecy as her past catches up on her. The Arches of Gerrard Street is a coming-of-age novel about a young girl from a small town thrust into a big city finding her way back to herself.
Lockdown Lovers
Lockdown Lovers is a five-part love story set in lockdown conditions in two regions, Asia and Europe.
In Part I, set in Hong Kong and China, forty-something academic John Ryan goes to the local 24/7 McDonalds every day to record events around him. We also get regular updates and reflections on the time of lockdown from Phoebe Ho, Kwok-ying and a pangolin. Phoebe is a twenty-something Hong Kong activist and recently elected local councilor, Kwok-ying is a government health official, and the pangolin is one of the mammals reported as being at the root of the virus. In Part II, John, Phoebe and Kwok-ying have all had to go into quarantine as they have picked up the virus. John and Phoebe grow closer in unique lockdown conditions. Part II ends on the night before their passionate encounter in Phoebe’s quarantine quarters. Part III is set in lockdown conditions in Ireland, Europe. John’s parents are in the vulnerable category and have been ordered to stay in their homes. John tells no one but his parents that he has returned. He delivers groceries and medicine to his parents’ porch but the pain is too much when he sees them staring at him from twenty feet away behind the porch door. In Part IV, John has come back to Hong Kong from Ireland and is living on his own. Phoebe is caught up in events taking place in Hong Kong. Kwok-ying still sends in his witty comments about the Government. Part V takes place in Hong Kong and China two years after the first outbreak. Each character has moved on, and the pangolin is flourishing.
In this pandemic-ridden world, this novel reminds us how human contact will never cease to be mankind’s saving grace through the darkest times.
At Night We Are Dancers
This novel spanning seven decades documents the life of Tomas Franco “Cocoy” Sabater and his ascent to becoming one of the Philippines’s most callous vigilante assassins. Punctuated by news clippings from different generations, essays and
accounts from a perceptive journalist, internal monologues, a short children’s story from a failed novelist, and a lingering homage to ballet and kundiman, the story progresses in a non-linear fashion, conscientiously dissecting Sabater’s tumultuous pursuit of reprisal as he tries to fix his disintegrating relationship with his dying wife and growing daughter. At Night We Are Dancers is a story of love and family amidst ever-changing political milieu, as well as understanding existence and purpose, but, above all, embracing redemption in its countless forms.
And Softly Go the Crossings
In this collection of short stories, Singapore Literature Prize-winner Danielle Lim probes the unseen changes which take place in the human psyche and their impact on the textures of life. Weaving through pain and healing, beauty and darkness, these silent crossings of the human heart and mind are deep and formidable. Yet they often go unnoticed due to their quiet, subtle nature. From a man struggling to bridge the distance between him and his father as his father dies, to the changes in the human psyche
when people are pit competitively against one another, these stories seek to draw out the emotional and psychological threads which form the tapestry of lived experience.
With its portraits of love and loss, loneliness and heartache, hope and healing, And Softly Go the Crossings challenges the reader to encounter human connectedness through soft, yet powerful, inner rhythms.
The Genealogy of Kings (Sulalatus Salatin)
The Genealogy of Kings (Malay: Sulalat al-Salatin or Sejarah Melayu), is a literary work that gives a traditional interpretation of the origin, evolution and demise of the great Malay maritime empire, the Malacca Sultanate. The work which was composed sometime between the 15th and 16th centuries, is considered one of the finest literary and historical works in the Malay language.
In 2001, The Genealogy of Kings was listed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Programme International Register. The work covers the founding of Melaka and its rise to power; its relationship with neighbouring kingdoms and distant countries; the advent of Islam and its spread in Melaka and the region as a whole; the history of the royalty in the region including battles won or lost, marriage ties and diplomatic relationships; the administrative hierarchy that ruled Melaka; the greatness of its rulers and administrators, including the Bendahara Tun Perak and Laksamana Hang Tuah.