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Shop nowThe Storm We Made
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“A taut WWII novel set in Malaya, we see a family falling apart during the brutal occupation by Japan through the eyes of the three children, who know nothing about their mother’s role a decade earlier in stealing intelligence from her husband to help Japan plan their invasion. A chilling and compelling story. ”
— Anne • Newtonville Books
Bookseller recommendation
“An incredible book from a strong new voice, focusing on the choices that a mother makes in the middle of colonial occupation during WWII. Vanessa Chan touches upon the murky grey areas of survival in a time of oppression and upheaval.”
— Jesse Hassinger • Odyssey Bookshop
Bookseller recommendation
“Stunning. Horrifying. Raw. Gritty. Luscious. The WWII novel you haven't seen before. ”
— Maren • Nook & Cranny Books
NATIONAL BESTSELLER
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
In this spellbinding novel, an ordinary housewife becomes an unlikely spy—and her dark secrets will test even the most unbreakable ties.
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 fault; and that her family must never learn the truth.
A decade prior, Cecily had been desperate to be more than a housewife to a low-level bureaucrat in British-colonized Malaya. A chance meeting with the charismatic General Fujiwara lured her into a life of espionage, pursuing dreams of an “Asia for Asians.” Instead, Cecily helped usher in an even more brutal occupation by the Japanese. Ten years later as the war reaches its apex, her actions have caught up with her. 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.
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.