The stories in The Storm We Made definitely have their foundations in some of the stories that my grandmother and family have told me. But some stories are also drawn and dramatized from history, while other parts are built from the imagination, as novels do. As the eldest grandchild on my father’s side, I spent a lot of time with my grandparents, and over the years, I would glean fascinating and often horrible anecdotes from my grandmother, delivered in a matter-of-fact way….When I finally started writing this book, during the earliest days of 2020 (the part of the pandemic when things were at their worst), no libraries and archives were open. Instead, I relied on my memory, and the stories I had heard before from my family, that I had internalized but never really put to paper. In doing so, I realized I knew more than I thought I did.
― Vanessa Chan, Interview, Bookweb
What booksellers are saying about The Storm We Made
- It’s Malaya in WWII during the Japanese invasion and one family is being torn apart. The son, Abel has disappeared. Jasmin, the youngest daughter, is hiding in the basement in order to avoid being pressed into service at a comfort station. And Jujube, the oldest daughter, is barely holding the family together. Meanwhile, their mom, Cecily has a secret: she’s been spying for the Japanese and she’s afraid she’s the cause of all their current strife. Sweeping back and forth between 1937 and 1945, The Storm We Made is a beautifully crafted, but brutal historical novel.
― Jennifer Jones, Bookmiser, Inc., Marietta, Georgia | Buy from Bookmiser
- The Storm We Made is perfect for readers of literary historical fiction. I loved the writing and Vanessa Chan wrote about survival, the terror of war and colonization in a way that captivated me from the beginning to end of this story.
― Jessica Nock, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina | Buy from Main Street Books
About Vanessa Chan
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.
