My Mother-In-Law's Son
Out of stock
My Mother-In-Law’s Son centres round a Peranakan woman, Swee Gek, who is in an abusive marriage but is constrained by the limitations of women in her time to take positive action.
Her marriage is further strained by Choy Yan, the eponymous Mother-In-Law of the title, whose values are archaic and patriarchal. Taking place in a 1949-1950 Singapore that is just recovering from the onslaught of the Japanese War, Swee Gek’s Chinese husband, Wong Kum Chong, is inadvertently drawn into anti-colonial activities by a communist agitator, Teng Xin Nan.
Narrated from the perspectives of these different characters, My Mother-In-Law’s Son is a revealing story of a Singapore and her people struggling to find their feet in the aftermath of a war. It also shows how people going through difficult circumstances can be susceptible to revolutionary ideas. Through Swee Gek’s personal fight against her oppressors, this novel also explores the meaning of love: whether love can be unconditional or is it always accompanied by possessiveness.
My Mother-In-Law's Son
Slide to see
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
Reviews
“History comes alive in this riveting novel by Josephine Chia. It is more than sweet nostalgia. Set in post-war Singapore, Singaporeans who had lived through that difficult era will laugh, cry, sigh and nod in agreement as Josephine takes them back to the years when Singapore was struggling to rebuild itself, with the communists trying to win the hearts and minds of a people disillusioned with their colonial masters. For younger Singaporeans born after independence and students of Singapore's political and social history, this is an entertaining but important history lesson not to be missed. Covering the lives, struggles, emotions and ambitions of people from all walks of life and racial groups during this tumultuous time of political and economic change, Josephine provides an insight into what life was like before Singapore became a stable and prosperous nation. It is a novel, but it is very real.” − Julia d’Silva, Sub-Editor
“Josephine Chia has done it again; My Mother-in-Law’s son whisks you back to a crossroads in Singapore’s past when political identities were still being forged and a woman’s role was still to be wife and mother. Swee Gek is both gentle and fiercely loyal, and her intelligence cries out for more than tradition allows. But Singapore is changing...” − Sharon Couteau, English Trainer and Interpreter, France
Fiction
Paperback
$24.00 SGD
E-book
$24.00 SGD
catskull
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
E-book
$20.00 SGD
Singa-Pura-Pura: Malay Speculative Fiction from Singapore
Paperback
$19.00 SGD
E-book
$19.00 SGD
After the Inquiry
Paperback
$22.00 SGD
E-book
$22.00 SGD
Heartland (new edition)
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
E-book
$16.00 SGD
How We Live Now: Stories of Daily Living
Paperback
$14.00 SGD
E-book
$14.00 SGD
Potong: To Care/Cut
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
Shezlez the Self-Proclaimed
Reader
$12.00 SGD
My New Monster Truck
Reader
$6.00 SGD
Big Book
$35.00 SGD
Mango the Cat
Reader
$7.00 SGD
Big Book
$50.00 SGD
Fried Eggs
E-book
$0.00 SGD
Why Our Great Leader was Not So Great and Not Much of a Leader
E-book
$0.00 SGD
The Bonnie, Bonnie Banks of Singapura
E-book
$0.00 SGD
Found Texts of the AAI Anon, Circa 3119: Eight Lyric Essays
E-book
$0.00 SGD
2719
Paperback
$32.71 SGD
E-book
$32.71 SGD
Memorandum
Paperback
$22.00 SGD
E-book
$22.00 SGD
In This Desert, There Were Seeds
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
E-book
$25.00 SGD
Collected Plays Three
Paperback
$14.00 SGD
E-book
$14.00 SGD
Interpreter of Winds
Paperback
$12.00 SGD
E-book
$12.00 SGD
Giving Alms
Paperback
$22.00 SGD
E-book
$22.00 SGD
The Gods Will Hear Us Eventually
Paperback
$16.00 SGD
Hook and Eye: Stories from the Margins
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
The First Five: A New Collection of Southeast Asian Writing
Out of print
Paperback
$15.00 SGD
E-book
$15.00 SGD
Payoh
Paperback
$20.56 SGD
this is how you walk on the moon: an anthology of anti-realist fiction
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
Dream Storeys
Board Book
$18.30 SGD
Afternoon Tea at Raffles Hotel
Paperback
$10.00 SGD
Belfast
Paperback
$10.00 SGD
The Cuckoo Conundrum
Gift Box Set
$25.00 SGD
The NTU-NAC Writing Residencies Chapbooks (Gift Box Set)
Paperback
$25.00 SGD
3
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
Blood Collected Stories
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
These Foolish Things & Other Stories
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
Cherry Days
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
First Fires
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
E-book
$18.60 SGD
When a Flower Dies
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
The Adopted: Stories from Angkor
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
E-book
$20.00 SGD
Corridor: 12 Short Stories
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
Lost Nostalgia
Out of stock
Paperback
$9.25 SGD
Afternoon Tea at Raffles Hotel Singapore: A Fun Activity Book
Out of stock
Paperback
$40.00 SGD
Singapore Siu Dai Box Set
Out of stock
Paperback
$13.00 SGD
Singapore Siu Dai 3: The SG Conversation Dabao!
Out of stock
Paperback
$10.00 SGD
Saint
Out of stock
Paperback
$18.60 SGD
A Family Portrait
Out of stock
Out of print
Default Title
$9.90 SGD
Eye/Feel/Write For You
Out of stock
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
The Tessellated Path
Out of stock
Box Set
$206.25 SGD
Interlogue Series Collection (8 Volumes)
Out of stock
Out of print
Paperback
$15.00 SGD
Underground and Other Stories
Out of stock
Default Title
$16.00 SGD
The Story of Ms. Poet
Out of stock
Paperback
$20.00 SGD
The Proper Care of Foxes
Out of stock
Default Title
$14.00 SGD
The Girl Who Made It Snow in Singapore
Out of stock
Out of print
Attunement
Is life hustling you out of tune? As the week roars by, we invite you to a slice of attunement penned lovingly by our authors, friends, and yours truly. Freshly delivered weekly with care. Intimacy guaranteed. Read selected letters below.
Magical, luminous things
Feb 19, 2022
I have flown across an ocean this week. This still sounds surreal to say.
Read more
No negotiation for blood debt
Feb 14, 2022
The Burmese language resistance poetry is deeply embedded in the country’s colonial past. When mo...
Read more
Burning holes in the darkness
Feb 7, 2022
Poets killed in broad daylight, writers tortured and maimed. I wonder if their ghosts watch on fr...
Read more
