A Flood of Memories

Set in her homeland of Malaysia, Nadia Mikail’s new novel is a thoughtful, deeply affecting examination of family trauma, recovery and first love. As with her award-winning debut, it moves back and forth in time, with present day events taking place against the backdrop of terrifying, deadly, climate-change-caused flooding. Eighteen-year-old Leila is returning home for the first time in a while to help Mak (her mother) in the face of the rising waters. Though she loves Mak very much, she is reluctant to go home, memories of Pak (her father) are painful. In scenes and chapters set in the past, we watch as he turns from proud father to an abusive figure, taking out his disappointment for perceived failures in his own life on his wife and daughter and in the cruellest ways he can. He has died but Leila is still angry with him and also with Mak for not doing more to stand up to him, for loving him too much. Her return also brings her into contact with Arthur, the boy she’s been thinking about since they met almost two years ago. Arthur is handsome but more important seems to have an extraordinary wealth of kindness and the ability to extend it. He gave her a key then, the prop from a play he was in, and she’s kept it. Like the flood, the key is both a real life object and metaphor. Mikail manages the time shifts and all the different elements of the plot with real skill, giving readers insight into Leila’s thoughts and feelings, concentrating on her emotional journey while spotlighting the terrifying impact of global warming on vulnerable communities, and still ending on a note of hope for the future. The BfK reviewer of The Cats We Meet Along the Way found it so enthralling, she dropped it into the bath while reading it. Mikail’s follow up, which she admits was difficult to write, is just as good.

Read our Q&A author interview with Nadia Mikail.