The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

I can count on one hand the amount of books set in Asia under the Japanese occupation. For various traumatic reasons, such topics are rarely approached both in Japan and the countries who were the direct victims of it. 

The Storm We Made, the debut novel by Malaysian author Vanessa Chan, reflects the terrible events of the Japanese occupation through the experiences of an average family. The mother, Cecily, turns into an accidental spy, driven by her own ambitions to be considered an equal partner and equal of a man she fells obsessively in love with. Part of her temptation to spy, providing the Japanese with documents stolen from her husband, a middle employee at a local company, was also the escape from a boring life. 

The children of Alcantara family, whose voices are adding individual layers to the story, are dramatically affected by the duress of times, but also through their small individual decision may determine the fate of the others and of the society as well.

The writing is entincing, making you to want to know what happened with the characters, particularly Abel, although for some of the children characters, like Jasmin, her voice was way too strong for her young age of 8. 

The Storm We Made is a well-researched work of historical fiction that hopefully will be followed by more similar novels. As the traumatic moments are becoming more distant, so is the clarity brought by the separation, leaving more space for finding inspiration for bold stories.

Rating: 4 stars