Vanessa Chan Books

"Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara's family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter Jujube, who works at a tea house frequented by drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day. Cecily knows two things: that this is all her fau

'Chan has written a . . . gripping, exquisitely plotted novel. I could not put it down!' Alice Winn, author of Sunday Times bestseller In MemoriamHer decision changed history.Now her family must survive it.British Malaya, 1930s Discontented housewife Cecily is seduced by Japanese general Fujiwara and the glorious future he is promising for 'independent' Malaya, free from British colonialism. As she becomes further embedded as his own personal spy, she unwittingly alters the fate of her country by welcoming in a punishing form of dictatorship under the Japanese in WWII.Japanese-occupied Malaya, 1945 Cecily and her family are barely surviving. Her children, Jujube, Abel and Jasmin, are surrounded by threat, and look to their mother to keep them safe. But she can't tell them about the part she played in the war - and she doesn't know how to protect them.Can Cecily face up to her past to save her children? Or is it already too late... ?'I'll never forget this book' JESSAMINE CHAN'One of the most powerful debuts I've ever read. A storytelling star is born' TRACY CHEVALIER'A striking, moving exploration of good and evil, it is a novel that will stay with you' CECILE PIN'Exceptionally brave, heart-breaking, beautiful, and moving. A significant contribution to world's literature' NGUYEN PHAN QUE MAI