What happens when the things that divide us also bind us together. A young wife leaves her husband and children behind to fight for freedom in the jungles of Malaya. A son feels to London to escape from a father, wracked by betrayal. A journalist seeks to uncover the truth of the place she once called home. A woman finds herself questioned for a conspiracy she did not take part in ... Set during the years of the Malayan Emergency of 1948 - 1960. During those years an active Communist insurgency was playing out in the jungles of Malaya (today's Malaysia) though the troubles reached as far south as Singapore itself. Through the characters, which include a British journalist, a communist rebel fighter and her family, Tiang takes us through the reality of a divided nation fighting its own government. The author does not hold back in describing the often brutal tactics used by the British colonial regime - the Malayan Emergency was fought against the colonial authorities - to control and finally subdue the armed insurrection. Among the tools used were torture, concentration camps and other harsh tactics used by authorities around the world to crush similar ideologically motivated armed uprisings and highlights the repercussions of such extreme and brutal tactics on Singaporeans and their families - extending to the present day, as the family navigate the choppy political currents of the region.
