Novel We Could Not See The Stars

We Could Not See The Stars is a first novel by Elizabeth Wong

To discover the truth about his mother, Han must leave his village and venture to faraway islands which hold the answer to a long-held secret.

A literary speculative novel of memory loss, migration, identity, and an incredible journey across seas and deserts. Set in a fictional Malaysia.

Published in the UK by John Murray Press (a Hachette UK company).

Longlisted for the Bath Novel Award and the Lucy Cavendish Prize.

Now available in North American bookstores!

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     Han was contemplative. Nothing that he had seen so far answered his questions about where his mama and he came from, who they were. He was sad for his mama, and for himself, for not only did he not know her, he didn’t even know the person who had become her. And then, what of the people that led to him? His mama’s father, his mama’s mother, his mama’s father’s father, his mama’s father’s mother – the list went on and on, the people he did not know, the stories they had not told him, the names that they had lost.
     ‘No people, only ghosts here,’ he whispered.

— Excerpt from We Could Not See The Stars

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Han’s uneventful life in a sleepy fishing village is disturbed when a strange man arrives, asking questions about Han’s mother. Han doesn’t trust Mr Ng, but his cousin Chong Meng is impressed with the stories of his travels and tales of a golden tower. Together they steal the only thing Han has left to remember his mother by, before disappearing. 

On a faraway island, across the great Peninsula and across the seas, the forest of Suriyang is cursed. Wander in and you will return without your memories. Professor Toh has been researching the forest of Suriyang for years. He believes that the forest hides something that does not wish to be discovered. An ancient civilization. A mysterious golden tower.

Chong Meng is tangled up in the professor’s plans to discover the truth about Suriyang. Han travels the breadth of the Peninsula to find his cousin before it is too late. How much will Han sacrifice to discover who he really is?