The Accidental Malay - Paperback

by Karina Robles Bahrin (Author)

Winner of the Epigram Books Fiction Prize
'Slick, sharp . . . a joy to read' Tash Aw

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, 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

Author Biography

Karina Robles Bahrin got her first break as a writer when she guest-edited a weekly teen column in The New Straits Times a very long time ago. Her short fiction has been published in Urban Odysseys: KL Stories, KL Noir: Blue, A Subtle Degree of Restraint & Other Stories and Malaysian Tales: Retold & Remixed. She currently lives and works on the island of Langkawi where she runs a hotel, restaurant, farm and community initiative promoting storytelling among the island's youth and children. The Accidental Malay is her first novel.