{"product_id":"once-we-were-there","title":"Once We Were There","description":"\u003cul class=\"tabs\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"active\"\u003eDescription\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\u003cul class=\"tabs-content\"\u003e\n\u003cli class=\"active\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eShortlisted for Singapore Book Awards 2018, Best Book Cover Design\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the Penang Monthly Book Prize 2017\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the Popular-The Star Readers' Choice Awards 2018\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"s1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/0041\/files\/OWWT-Sample.pdf?5203634409291996307\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/0041\/files\/OWWT-Sample.pdf?5203634409291996307\"\u003eLook inside the book\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGet the E-book on \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07N85RBHM\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/B07N85RBHM\/\"\u003eAmazon\u003c\/a\u003e or \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Bernice_Chauly_Once_We_Were_There?id=3MmFDwAAQBAJ\u0026amp;hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" data-mce-href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/books\/details\/Bernice_Chauly_Once_We_Were_There?id=3MmFDwAAQBAJ\u0026amp;hl=en\"\u003eGoogle Play\u003c\/a\u003e    \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.storytel.com\/sg\/en\/books\/2117136-Once-We-Were-There?utm_source=Epigram\u0026amp;utm_medium=OnceWeWereThere\"\u003eListen to the audiobook\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJournalist Delonix Regia chances upon the cultured and irresistible Omar amidst the upheaval of the Reformasi movement in Kuala Lumpur. As the city roils around them, they find solace in love, marriage, and then parenthood. But when their two-year-old daughter Alba is kidnapped, Del must confront the terrible secret of a city where babies are sold and girls trafficked. By turns heart-breaking and suspenseful, \u003ci\u003eOnce We Were There\u003c\/i\u003e is a debut novel of profound insight. It is Bernice Chauly at her very best. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“An exhilarating fiction with a breathless, breakneck pace, like the new Malaysia it lovingly and bitingly tells on, with corrupt, idealistic, greedy, confused, identifiably Malaysian ordinary-native-citizens-politicians-power-monger-dispossessed-resistant characters to usher in a generational shift in sensibility. A must read for all who track Malaysian literature into the 21st century.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Shirley Geok-lin Lim, author of \u003ci\u003eAmong the White Moon Faces\u003c\/i\u003e, American Book Award winner\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A love song to thwarted motherhood and the blunted dreams of the Reformasi movement, \u003ci\u003eOnce We Were There\u003c\/i\u003e is as Malaysian as \u003ci\u003eteh tarik\u003c\/i\u003e–sweet, dark and a jolt to the senses.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Mei Fong, Pulitzer-prize winning journalist and author of \u003ci\u003eOne Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e“\u003ci\u003eOnce We Were There\u003c\/i\u003e is an exhilarating novel, capturing a Malaysia rarely seen in literature, of late 90s political activism and of KL's kaleidoscopic counter-cultures. Chauly also writes so wisely about love, injustice and profound loss, and how the human spirit endures and finds the strength to go on.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Susan Barker, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Incarnations\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"p1\"\u003e“\u003ci\u003eOnce We Were There\u003c\/i\u003e is a timely and important novel. First it plunges the reader into the social, cultural and sexual environment of KL at the turn of the millennium. Then it tells a story which is both heartbreaking and gripping, and deftly illustrates the inextricability of the personal and the political.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—James Scudamore, Somerset Maugham Award-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Amnesia Clinic\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Direct, honest and powerful”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—JM Coetzee\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The\u003cspan\u003ere is much more to commend than criticise in the novel, and \u003c\/span\u003eway Chauly captures Kuala Lumpur is a feat of versatility.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Cha: The Asian Literary Journal\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBernice Chauly\u003c\/strong\u003e is the award-winning author of five books of poetry and prose; \u003ci\u003egoing there and coming back\u003c\/i\u003e (1997), \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Sins\u003c\/i\u003e (2008), \u003ci\u003eLost in KL\u003c\/i\u003e (2008), \u003ci\u003eGrowing Up With Ghosts\u003c\/i\u003e (2011) and \u003ci\u003eOnkalo\u003c\/i\u003e (2013).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBorn in George Town, Penang to Chinese-Punjabi teachers, she read Education and English Literature in Canada as a government scholar. She was an Honorary Fellow at the University of Iowa’s International Writing Program (IWP) in 2014, has served as Festival Director of the George Town Literary Festival since 2011, and currently lectures at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC). She lives in Kuala Lumpur with her two daughters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Epigram Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41761127244,"sku":"9789814785167","price":26.9,"currency_code":"SGD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0550\/0041\/products\/Once-We-Were-There-CVF-300.jpg?v=1626927188","url":"https:\/\/epigrambookshop.xyz\/products\/once-we-were-there","provider":"Epigram","version":"1.0","type":"link"}