How We Disappeared

The heart-rending story of survival and endurance in Japanese-occupied Singapore

Singapore, 1942. As Japanese troops sweep down Malaysia and into Singapore, a village is ransacked, leaving only three survivors, one of them a tiny child.

In a neighbouring village, seventeen-year-old Wang Di is bundled into the back of a troop carrier and shipped off to a Japanese military brothel. After sixty years of silence, what she saw and experienced there still haunts her.

And in the year 2000, twelve-year-old Kevin is sitting beside his ailing grandmother when he overhears a mumbled confession. He sets out to discover the truth, wherever it might lead, setting in motion a chain of events he could never have foreseen.

Weaving together two timelines and two very big secrets, this evocative, profoundly moving and utterly dazzling debut opens a window on a little-known period of history, and heralds the arrival of a thrilling new literary star.

‘Deeply affecting.’ Financial Times

‘A sweeping epic and...an essential read... It's incredibly beautifully written.’ Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti

‘A heartbreaking but hopeful story about memory, trauma and ultimately love.’ New York Times

‘This heartbreaking story explores shame and secrecy through two timelines, woven together in this deeply moving novel. A quite extraordinary book.’ Kirsty Wark