I think historical fiction is fast becoming my favourite genre.
Not just because the stories tend to speak so profoundly to the human experience; of the desire to live, of love, of war and resistance, but because of its ability to introduce you to a history you otherwise might not have known much
about, especially of those stories who have been brushed under the carpet.
The following four books have absolutely done that for me:
1. The storm we made
The book follows Cecily, a mother who, in the hopes of a better future, inadvertently finds herself acting as a spy for the Japanese in their overtaking of Malaya ( now known as Malaysia) from the British. The book documents how this family is impacted by the dehumanisation, exploitation and brutality under both the British and the Japanese.
2. Pachinko
Pachinko covers the story of several generations on their emigration from Korea to Japan. It documents the hardship, discrimination and suffering of the Korean people under Japan. The story follows one family, over several generations in their pursuit of survival.
3. A history of burning
This book was my first introduction to the persecution and exile of the South Asian population from Uganda. A multigenerational story covering a family, starting with Pirbhai, as he escapes brutal forced labour under the British. He creates a life for himself in Uganda, a home away from home. His children and grandchildren find themselves under the brutal Amin regime, resulting in them being forced to flee to Britain, navigating this completely new world. And so again, they are displaced, and again, they are forced to lay roots somewhere else, forced to create some semblance of home.
4. Mornings in Jenin
Mornings in Jenin follows the life of the Abulheja family and it speaks to the absolute devastation that was the Nakba of 1948, that saw Palestine systematically colonised to make way for the illegal zionist state. The book shows how in reality the nakba never really ended, it continues, with impunity, to this day. This book highlights, so vividly, the sheer brutality and violence of Israel, which truly knows no bounds.
