I still had to imagine what it was like for my characters no one else could do that for me.
However, research only gets you to a point. I supplemented the information in his book by poring through newspapers of the time. Fortunately my granduncle, Chin Kee Onn, wrote a classic non-fiction work, Malaya Upside Down, which detailed many aspects of the occupation. I grew up listening to stories about the Japanese occupation: what I had to do was to verify the accuracy of the various anecdotes I’d heard. How much research did you have to do in terms of getting the details about the Japanese occupation right? We sometimes find courage only because circumstances push us into situations we would never have imagined for ourselves. Perhaps most of all, it asks what courage means. It also explores the nature of love and survival. This is, at heart, a story about betrayal in its many forms. Readers are still in the world of colonial Malaya, but it is now a country in deprivation, with all that that entails.Ĭould you tell me a bit more about the plot for When the Future Comes Too Soon? In contrast this new book begins with Malaya being dropped into war therefore, the pace needed to be faster. The first novel starts in 1878 when life is slow and meandering, and the pace of the book reflects that.
The two books are very different – to reflect a changing Malaya, a new protagonist and a different cast of characters.
How would you describe this sequel to The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds? How does it compare to your first novel? As I wrote it, I realised I was also telling the story of her country – this is how the Malayan Series came into being. I felt her story was best told by immersing the reader in the place where she lived. I did not set out to write a series! I began with one book – the story of a feisty woman grappling with cultural identity in a rapidly modernising world. Love London Love Culture spoke to Selina Siak about her latest novel When the Future Comes Too Soon….Ĭould you tell me a little more about the inspiration behind When the Future Comes Too Soon and the Malayan series?
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