NATIONAL BEST SELLER * GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK * BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK * NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS CHOICE *
A sweeping epic about an unlikely spy, a secret love affair, and the uncontrollable forces that will test even the most unbreakable ties. Set in Malaya (now Malaysia) during World War II, this spellbinding “most anticipated” (Oprah Daily) novel chronicles a mother and her children as they grapple with the consequences of colonial power and the shocking repercussions that follow for their family and their country.
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.
Spanning years of pain and triumph, told from the perspectives of four unforgettable characters, The Storm We Made is a dazzling saga about the horrors of war, the fraught relationships between the colonized and their oppressors, and the ambiguity of right and wrong when survival is at stake.
The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan (Hardback)
Vanessa Chan is the Malaysian author of The Storm We Made, a national bestseller, Good Morning America Book Club Pick and BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick. Acquired by international publishers in a flurry of auctions, the novel, her first, will be published in more than twenty languages worldwide. Her other work has been published in Vogue, Esquire, and more. Vanessa grew up in Malaysia and is now based mostly in Brooklyn.