Last year, British magazine The Bookseller reported that HarperCollins had to beat five other publishers for Erotic Stories For Punjabi Widows. Inheritance is one of two lead titles that Epigram will use to launch itself in the UK this May. Sugarbread was published in June last year by Epigram, which also republished Inheritance for local readers that month. It was a runner-up for the 2015 Epigram Books Fiction Prize, an annual award for unpublished manuscripts started by Singapore press Epigram Books. Some write of abuse and exploitation, others of love – both for the families they look after and the ones they left behind.Jaswal's second published novel is Sugarbread, which talks about racism in Singapore through the wide-eyed but clear vision of a young narrator. If you like this, read: Our Homes, Our Stories, edited by Karien van Ditzhuijzen (Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, 2018, $19 before GST, City Book Room), an anthology of real-life stories from foreign domestic workers in Singapore. It opens their eyes to the invisible world that exists alongside theirs, full of people with their own complicated lives and loves, seeking a space of their own, sharing a city. As social commentary, it holds up a mirror to Singaporean readers. There are fictionalised references to real-life events, from the 2009 takeover of gender equality group Aware (Association of Women for Action and Research) by a Christian faction to the case of Flor Contemplacion, a Filipina domestic worker in Singapore who was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang in 1993.Īs a whodunnit, Now You See Us delivers twists aplenty and a satisfying ending. Jaswal delivers sharp insights into Singapore society through the eyes of those it classifies as foreign. It reflects the uneasy dynamic that exists in many Singapore households, where you share a living space with someone who you might say is part of the family, but who, at the end of the day, is a paid employee. “I just want to do my job, not go out and share my life with you,” she says. The novel features a spectrum of employers, from the abusive Mrs Fann to Cora’s kindly boss Elizabeth Lee, who is highly solicitous of Cora’s welfare, though the lack of boundaries between them makes Cora uncomfortable. This enables her to pack scenes with vivid details, from the balikbayan boxes that Filipina workers fill with gifts to send home, to the factory where Donita’s agency deploys her illegally to wash mushrooms.

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