Run, My Daughters, Run

Set against the harrowing backdrop of the Japanese Occupation of Malaya, Run, My Daughters, Run follows the Lee family, a Straits  Chinese household in Kuala Lumpur, as they struggle to survive a brutal and bewildering new reality. At the heart of the story is Pei Lin, a bright, bookish 17-year-old, whose aspirations for education and independence are upended by war, hunger and fear.

Told in rich, evocative prose, the novel alternates between Pei Lin’s perspective and that of her mother, Kim Neo, a strong-willed Nyonya matriarch haunted by a painful secret. As the family navigates raids, curfews, betrayal and starvation, they must also confront the disintegration of colonial certainties and the fragility of family bonds under occupation.

A powerful tale of endurance, womanhood and the unbreakable spirit of a family caught in the crosswinds of history.

What begins with a gentle nostalgia, gradually unfolds into a haunting potrait of survival.
Ninot Aziz

A gripping tale of resilience, resistance and hardship.
Dato’ Dr Ooi Kee Beng

Lee Su Kim is a Malaysian author, educator and cultural activist. A sixth generation Nyonya from Kuala Lumpur, she is the author of a trilogy of short stories on the Peranakan Babas and Nyonyas: Kebaya Tales: of Matriarchs, Maidens, Mistresses and Matchmakers; Sarong Secrets: of Love, Loss and Longing, and Manek Mischiefs: of Patriarchs, Playboys and Paramours. The bestselling Kebaya Tales won First Prize for Fiction for the Popular-The Star Readers’ Choice Awards 2011 in Malaysia.

Su Kim’s nonfiction work Malaysian Flavours: Insights into Things Malaysian and Manglish: Malaysian English at its Wackiest are also bestsellers, celebrating Malaysia’s unique multicultural heritage and identity. She is also the author of A Nyonya In Texas: Insights of a Straits Chinese Woman in the Lone Star State.