The Accidental Malay

Winner of the Epigram Books Fiction Prize'Slick, sharp . . . a joy to read' Tash AwJasmine Leong is the heiress apparent to Phoenix, her family's billion-ringgit company known especially for its pork snacks. When her grandmother, the great Madame Leong, unexpectedly passes away, Jasmine discovers she is actually a Malay Muslim and this newfound identity threatens to upend her life and ambitions.Finding herself at the centre of a political controversy, and caught between two men who love her, The Accidental Malay examines the human cost of a country's racial policies and paints a portrait of a woman unwilling to accept the fate history has designated for her.'A novel both generous and scathing; both honest and nuanced; both grounded in human emotion and engaged with history and politics' Preeta Samarasan, author of Evening Is the Whole Day

A sharply observed, elegantly crafted culture-clash state-of-the-nation drama that is not only witty but heartfelt. -- Epigram Book Fiction Prize Judges
Desire, religion and politics collide in this delicious debut . . . Slick, sharp and full of the frustrations and joys of modern urban Malaysia -- Tash Aw, author of We, The Survivors
A deeply nuanced study in the sometimes suffocating intertwining of race and religion for Malay-Muslims. -- Suffian Hakim, author of Harris bin Potter and the Stoned Philosopher
A novel both generous and scathing . . . a fast-paced, character-driven, furious and yet somehow joyful exploration of Malay ethnoreligious supremacy -- Preeta Samarasan, author of Evening is the Whole Day
Braving the intersections and contradictions of race, class and gender, one woman’s private campaign for self- definition becomes a search for love amidst corporate manoeuvrings, familial pressures and the challenging complexities of her country’s cultural politics. -- Cyril Wong, author of This Side of Heaven
Stylish, trenchant, yet brimming with heart, The Accidental Malay captures the complexities of contemporary Malaysia with wit and grace -- Kirstin Chen, New York Times bestselling author of Counterfeit

Karina Robles Bahrin got her first break as a writer when she guest-edited a weekly teen column in The New Straits Times a very long time ago. Her short fiction has been published in Urban Odysseys: KL Stories, KL Noir: Blue, A Subtle Degree of Restraint & Other Stories and Malaysian Tales: Retold & Remixed. She currently lives and works on the island of Langkawi where she runs a hotel, restaurant, farm and community initiative promoting storytelling among the island's youth and children. The Accidental Malay is her first novel.

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