Category: HF Reading Challenge

#BookReview The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan @HodderBooks

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About the Book

Japanese-occupied Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara’s family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, hides in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter, Jujube, who serves tea to drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day. 

Cecily knows two things: that this is all her fault; and that her family must never learn the truth. 

A decade prior, Cecily, desperate to be more than a housewife in British-colonized Malaya, is lured into a life of espionage by the charismatic General Fujiwara. Seduced by a dream of an “Asia for Asians,” she helps usher in a war, and with it, a new, and more brutal occupier. Now, her family is on the brink of destruction – and she will do anything to save them. 

Format: eARC (322 pages)    Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date: 4th January 2024 Genre: Historical Fiction

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My Review

I first became aware of this book when I heard the author read an excerpt from it at the Women’s Prize Live event earlier this year. I knew immediately it had to go on my wishlist and I was thrilled when the publishers approved my request on NetGalley.

The story moves back and forth in time between 1934, when Cecily first encounters the charming but manipulative General Fujiwara – at that time going under the name Bingley Chan – and the four years from 1941 when the Japanese army supplanted the British as occupiers of Malaya (what is now called Malaysia). Told variously from the perspectives of Cecily, her son Abel and her daughters Jujube and Jasmin, it immerses the reader in the turmoil inflicted on one family by external events.

Having believed she was working for a noble cause, Cecily comes to realise she has helped to set in motion a train of events that will wreak havoc on her family and be disastrous for her country. Far from bringing about the liberation of Malaya, it sees a paternalistic colonial occupier replaced by a far more brutal regime. It’s a chilling lesson in the unforeseen consequences of lies and secrets. ‘Yet perhaps the only inevitable truth was that all lies eventually rise up to meet their makers.’ This is indeed the case for Cecily and something she is forced to confront, not only in relation to her own family, but for others to whom she has become close.

The author just about manages to retain, if not our sympathy, then our understanding of Cecily’s actions. Her obsession with Fujiwara – a man who can assume different personas seemingly at will -makes her blind to the fact she is being manipulated. He seems to fulfil some unmet need in her, providing her with a sense of purpose even though her actions involve subterfuge and a betrayal of her husband, Gordon. Indeed she even worries that when the Japanese are in control of Malaya, life will become ‘ordinary’ again, ‘filled with the small fanfares of family: children to be tamed, a husband to be tended to, the tragedies of dull domesticity rearing their ugliness once more’.

I thought Jujube was an interesting character. She’s old enough to understand more of what’s going on and the dangers her family face. Although Mr Takahashi, the teacher who frequents the teashop where she works, represents a more positive example of the Japanese race, Jujube eventually comes to resent his happiness. How can she celebrate his good fortune when she is faced with losing everything?

Meanwhile in Jasmin, the author gives us the innocent outlook of a child, confused at why she needs to remain hidden in the basement when everyone knows she’s afraid of the dark, wondering why she’s always hungry and why she cannot have a friend to play with. It leads her to take a daring action that could bring disaster.

The author pulls no punches in describing the savage treatment of the people of Malaya by the Japanese army following their occupation of the country in December 1941: forced labour, mass executions and sexual slavery. Many scenes are distressing to read, especially those involving Abel following his disappearance and the experiences of Yuki, the young girl whom Cecily’s daughter, Jasmin, befriends.

In her foreword, the author writes, ‘I hope that you will feel love, wonder, sorrow, and joy as you read. And mostly, I hope you will remember their stories’. The Storm We Made, although not an easy read at times, is an impressive debut. If you enjoy historical fiction that reveals a lesser known aspect of the events of WW2, it’s one to add to your wishlist or pre-order now.

I received an advance reader copy courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton via NetGalley.

In three words: Moving, powerful, immersive

Try something similar: The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

About the Author

Photo credit: Mary Inhea Kang

Vanessa Chan is the Malaysian author of The Storm We Made. Her short stories have been published in Electric Lit, Kenyon Review, Ecotone and more.

She loves to read (of course), but also really loves TV, spicy food, and brightly colored clothes.

Connect with Vanessa
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#BookReview The Binding by Bridget Collins

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About the Book

Imagine you could erase your grief. Imagine you could forget your pain. Imagine you could hide a secret. Forever.

Emmett Farmer is working in the fields when a letter arrives summoning him to begin an apprenticeship. He will work for a bookbinder, a vocation that arouses fear, superstition and prejudice – but one neither he nor his parents can afford to refuse.

He will learn to hand-craft beautiful volumes, and within each he will capture something unique and extraordinary: a memory. If there’s something you want to forget, he can help. If there’s something you need to erase, he can assist. Your past will be stored safely in a book and you will never remember your secret, however terrible.

In a vault under his mentor’s workshop, row upon row of books – and memories – are meticulously stored and recorded. Then one day Emmett makes an astonishing discovery: one of them has his name on it.

Format: Hardback (448 pages) Publisher: The Borough Press
Publication date: 10th January 2019 Genre: Historical Fiction, Fantasy

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My Review

Although I’m not often drawn to books with a fantasy element, the inventive premise that unpleasant memories can be erased by being bound within the pages of a book kept me captivated for the first section of the story. The book is set in an undisclosed period that at times, with its talk of persecution of bookbinders, conjures up the feel of 17th century England and at other times seems set much later, perhaps in the 19th century. It didn’t really matter because both had a great sense of atmosphere.

I liked the way, in this imagined world, books are a not just a repository of memories but also become manifestations of power – as a means to erase evidence of abuse or crime, for example – or as a way to exercise control. They are also items of value, collected or traded by wealthy individuals. Playfully, in this world novels are regarded as ‘fake’. As one character observes, ‘They’re not real books. They’re written, like magazines. They’re not actual people, or actual memories. They’re invented.‘ Another character wonders who would write a novel: ‘People who enjoy imagining misery, I suppose. People who have no scruples about dishonesty. People who can spend days writing a long sad lie without going insane.’ Ironically, for some people bound books have become a source of titillation with readers meeting in secret to consume the dreadful experiences of others. Some are even copied and openly traded.

All this was brilliant but I confess as the plot became more of a romance – and a young adult romance at that – with a bit of mystery thrown in, I began to lose interest especially as this is a long book and events move quite slowly.

The Binding is a dark story in places with scenes that may be upsetting for some readers. I liked that it ended on a hopeful note even if I wasn’t completely engaged by the romantic storyline. However, the author is clearly a great storyteller and there are some brilliantly eccentric secondary characters who introduce elements of menace, magic or humour to the storyline.

I received a digital review copy courtesy of The Borough Press via NetGalley.

In three words: Imaginative, atmospheric, romantic

About the Author

Bridget Collins trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art after reading English at King’s College, Cambridge. She is the author of seven acclaimed books for young adults and has had two plays produced, one at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Binding is her first adult novel. (Photo: Goodreads author page)

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