Finalist for the 2022 Epigram Books Fiction Prize

Chandru, a third-generation Singaporean, realises his ambition through an arranged marriage. His wife, Meera, fights her fate by living a double life. Unhappily married, they make sense of their decisions through a study of their own past. Siddharth, their only son, is practically raised next door with their neighbour’s granddaughter Malli.

As the childhood best friends grow up, they helplessly watch their tumultuous love tear them apart. A generation raised on the Singaporean dream gives birth to another sheltered in its shadows. They are not the marginalised or the oppressed, but the ordinary majority doing their best.