Jeremy Tiang

Enter the world of an elite Chinese family: a life of luxury, limitless power, and around-the-clock service, which includes their trusted nanny Yu Ling. Slipping in and out of the shadows, careful to speak deferentially, meticulous in her care of their only son Kuan Kuan, Yu has served the family for years and knows their secrets. But little do they suspect that Yu has secrets of her own. In the pressure-cooker political environment of China, the fates of even the most powerful families can reverse overnight. When Kuan Kuan''s father and grandfather are arrested and his socialite mother goes on the run, Yu is left behind to make a series of life-changing choices. Will she be able to outrun her own past, and how far will she go to claim what she considers her due?

Siew Li leaves her husband and young children to fight for freedom in the jungles of Malaya. Decades later, a Malaysian journalist returns to her homeland to uncover the truth of a massacre committed during the Emergency, while Siew Li''s son uncovers the truth of his family''s past. Informed by years of painstaking research, Jeremy Tiang''s debut novel dives into the tumultuous days of leftist movements and political detentions in Singapore and Malaysia. It follows an extended family from the 1940s to the present day as they navigate the choppy political currents of the region. State of Emergency questions whether we can grasp the truth after the fact. And yet, in the very telling of its interlocking stories, it reaffirms the importance of trying.