Once We Were There
Country: Malaysia
Author Name: Bernice Mary Jane Chauly
Publisner Name: Epigram Books (Singapore) - currently known as Epigram Literary Foundation Ltd.
Original Language: English
Set during the Malaysian Reformasi movement of 1998 and unfolding over six turbulent years, Once We Were There is a haunting, propulsive novel that explores the collision of politics and personal trauma through the eyes of Delonix Regia - Del - a journalist and mother drawn into the heat of resistance.
In Kuala Lumpur, protests swell as the government cracks down on dissent following the arrest of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Del, fiercely independent and driven by idealism, helps establish a rebellious online news platform.
But as she reports from the frontlines of change, she is also seduced by the city’s undercurrents - its hedonism, danger, and darkness.
She falls in love with Omar, a charismatic man from a privileged background.
Their passionate relationship leads to marriage and the birth of their daughter, Alba.
Yet motherhood unsettles Del.
Isolated and restless, she struggles to reconcile her identity as a mother, lover, and activist.
Her defiance begins to crack.
Everything shatters when Alba is kidnapped.
As Del’s world collapses, her search for her daughter becomes a descent into the city’s
...shadowed corners - illegal adoptions, child trafficking, corruption, and the exploitation of the vulnerable.
The political becomes devastatingly personal.
Chauly’s novel moves through the voices of the marginalised - sex workers, trans activists, and rebels - layering a portrait of a city in transformation.
Del’s journey is both individual and collective: a reckoning with power, justice, and grief.
Written in searing, poetic prose, Once We Were There is an uncompromising exploration of motherhood, loss, and resistance.
It bears witness to a woman’s breakdown and rebirth amid a nation’s crisis, asking how we survive what is taken from us - and what remains when the fire dies down.
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