The Storm We Made
A heartbreaking literary debut of WWII to delight fans of Anthony Doerr and Pachinko
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4.0 • 11 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
✨'A storytelling star is born'✨ TRACY CHEVALIER
✨'A novel that will stay with you'✨ CECILE PIN
✨'Devastating, beautiful and extraordinary'✨ JESSICA GEORGE
✨'Magnificent . . . I implore you to read it'✨ CHRIS WHITAKER
✨'I'll never forget this book'✨ JESSAMINE CHAN
Malaysia, 1945. As WW2 rages, will a mother's choice affect her children forever?
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?
READERS ARE LOVING THE STORM WE MADE:
'A heartbreaking read that I cannot get out of my head or my heart' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'This is not a book to be missed' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'An absolutely exceptional book that will never leave me'⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Vanessa Chan has given us a masterpiece' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Gripping, vivid and moving' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'A deeply emotional read, at times painfully so' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'Shows a different side to the conflict and emotions of WWII. Beautifully written' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
'A powerful and moving debut' ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Chan debuts with a dynamic if overstuffed family saga involving a Malayan mother who becomes a spy for Japan in the lead-up to Japan's WWII invasion of the territory. Cecily Alcantara's life takes a new course in 1934, at a work party for her husband, Gordon, a middle manager for the colonial British administration. There, she meets the charming Shigeru Fujiwara, an agent for the Japanese Imperial Army who's working covertly to overthrow the British. He lures Cecily with his talk of an Asia for Asians, and she begins handing over information stolen from Gordon's desk. Her espionage activities continue for the next few years. Now, in 1945, Cecily looks back on the unexpected consequences of the Japanese invasion, such as political repression and rampant disappearances of teen boys. When her 15-year-old son Abel disappears, Cecily blames herself. Chan alternates Cecily's story with chapters narrated by her children including Abel, who it turns out is being tortured in a labor camp. There's also Jujube, who's working in a teahouse patronized by rude soldiers, and eight-year-old Jasmin, who chafes at Cecily and Gordon's insistence that she keep herself hidden in the basement so she won't be caught and forced to become a "comfort girl." Though the short chapters make for brisk pacing, the characters wind up feeling underdeveloped amid all the various plot threads. Still, Chan convincingly portrays a family caught in the horrors of war.
Customer Reviews
Great read
I was gripped from the first sentence. Brilliant.