Someone Is Coming by TA Morton
Memories come thick and heavy like the rains that fall in the jungle. Dense droplets wash the leaves and soak into the ground, cleansing the acrid smell of rubber, cleansing the jungle of its sins.
I hear my mother’s voice. No more secrets, Philip, I promise. Someone is coming, get ready.
#SomeoneIsComing @TAMortonWriter #RandomThingsTours @annecater @RandomTTours #blogtour
Philip Goundry is 93 and living out his days quietly in a care home in England when a young researcher from Singapore arrives, wanting to learn more about his former life in Malaya for the Singapore archives. His memory growing fitful, Philip is torn between wanting to unburden himself and staying silent, as he has done all these years, about the sinister and shocking events of his childhood on a Malayan rubber plantation. The truth, however, has a habit of winning.
My Review
This was one of the strangest books I have ever read. I mean that in a good way. It’s very short and is basically the story of 93-year-old Philip Goundry, now living in a care home in the UK, and how he gradually reveals his memories to Dr Lin.
But all is not as it seems. As he recalls, over a period of time, his childhood on a rubber plantation in Singapore, memories he has buried over decades start to emerge. His father was a good man, or was he? His mother ran away with a lover and was never seen again. His Amah and her superstitions – there was a pontianak, she said, a vampire girl from Malay and Indonesian mythology in the abandoned house where a woman died. This girl would draw men to their death. Don’t go near.
Pontianaks usually announce their presence through baby cries. It’s said that if the cry is loud, she is far away, but if it is soft, then she is nearby.’ See mythus.fandom.com/wiki/Pontianak You can tell if a girl is really a pontianak by looking at her feet – they don’t walk on the ground.
Phillip’s older brother Jimmy died in his teens. Phillip told him everything, but not everything. Some things he told no-one, but now he is starting to remember. His mother’s voice – someone is coming, she would say, over and over. Someone is coming, get ready.
A tiger prowled around the house. The children must be careful not to go into the jungle. The tiger might eat you. And so it goes on. The memories emerge slowly. Phillip gets upset easily. He doesn’t want to remember. But someone is coming and he needs to tell the truth. The truth has a habit of winning.
What a stunning book! It’s so different and unusual. Someone is coming – just the repetition of this one line is chilling. And the ending was totally unexpected.
Many thanks to @annecater for inviting me to be part of #RandomThingsTours
About the Author
T.A. Morton is a Singapore based Irish/Australian writer. Previously she has worked as a journalist and Editor for Longman Pearson in Hong Kong. Her short stories have been published in the Lakeview International Journal of Arts and Literature and The Best Asian Short Stories. Currently, she is studying towards her Masters in Crime and Thriller writing at the University of Cambridge.
In February 2020 her novel The Queen, The Soldier and The Girl was shortlisted for the Virginia Prize for fiction. In October 2020 she was shortlisted for the Strand International Flash fiction prize and the Bridport prize. In Autumn 2022 Monsoon Books published her novella, Someone is Coming. She is currently completing a new crime thriller novel.
Her website is: www.tamorton.com
