Fragile Monsters by Catherine Menon

I was gifted this proof of Fragile Monsters by Catherine Menon, by Viking Books UK, and I’m super excited for this historical novel about Malaysia and debut from another brilliant female author of colour! Fragile Monsters comes out in January 2021.

Durga, named after the Hindu goddess of war and strength, is of white British and Indian descent, and is a professor of mathematics who has gone home to Malaysia to visit Mary, her grandma or Ammuma, for Diwali. Durga’s mother Francesca supposedly died during childbirth leaving Mary to bring her up.

After Durga sets off some cheap fireworks she bought in the market, a firework misfires and sets Mary’s home alight. Durga manages to rescue her grandmother but the fire sets off Mary’s worsening health. As Durga battles her feeling of being torn between staying to look after her difficult grandma, and going back to Kuala Lumpur to teach, the ghosts of her and Mary’s past come back to haunt them both, revealing secrets.

The book moves between the 1980’s with Durga talking in first person and Mary’s past in third person. We journey through Mary’s childhood, teen years and adult years, against the backdrop of British colonialism in Malaysia in the ‘20s through to the Second World War. There’s the constant imagery of the flooding river of Jelai and the way it claims lives.

I thoroughly enjoyed the historical aspect of the novel and how it was seamlessly woven in and I loved learning about Indian culture in Malaysia. Menon did a fantastic job of both. As a child Mary has impeccable English, but as an old woman it’s broken, and I read the entire novel wondering why, but all does get revealed at the end!

I think it’s an important work of historical fiction as there’s few books out there that talk of the history of British colonialism in Malaysia, and it was a really accessible read. I’m excited for its release in spring!