The Accidental Malay

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What to expect

Winner of the Epigram Books Fiction Prize
‘Slick, sharp . . . a joy to read’ - Tash Aw, author of Five Star Billionaire

Jasmine Leong is the heiress apparent to Phoenix, her family’s billion-ringgit company known especially for its pork snacks. When her grandmother, the great Madame Leong, unexpectedly passes away, Jasmine discovers she is actually a Malay Muslim and this newfound identity threatens to upend her life and ambitions.

Finding herself at the centre of a political controversy, and caught between two men who love her, Karina Robles Bahrin's The Accidental Malay examines the human cost of a country’s racial policies and paints a portrait of a woman unwilling to accept the fate history has designated for her.

'A novel both generous and scathing; both honest and nuanced; both grounded in human emotion and engaged with history and politics' - Preeta Samarasan, author of Evening Is the Whole Day

Critics Review

A sharply observed, elegantly crafted culture-clash state-of-the-nation drama that is not only witty but heartfelt.
Epigram Book Fiction Prize Judges
Desire, religion and politics collide in this delicious debut . . . Slick, sharp and full of the frustrations and joys of modern urban Malaysia
Tash Aw, author of We, The Survivors
A deeply nuanced study in the sometimes suffocating intertwining of race and religion for Malay-Muslims.
Suffian Hakim, author of Harris bin Potter and the Stoned Philosopher
A novel both generous and scathing . . . a fast-paced, character-driven, furious and yet somehow joyful exploration of Malay ethnoreligious supremacy
Preeta Samarasan, author of Evening is the Whole Day
Braving the intersections and contradictions of race, class and gender, one woman’s private campaign for self- definition becomes a search for love amidst corporate manoeuvrings, familial pressures and the challenging complexities of her country’s cultural politics.
Cyril Wong, author of This Side of Heaven
Stylish, trenchant, yet brimming with heart, The Accidental Malay captures the complexities of contemporary Malaysia with wit and grace
Kirstin Chen, New York Times bestselling author of Counterfeit

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