Sze holding her book ‘Ghost Cave: A Novel of Sarawak’, a tragic tale of rebellion and romance.
KUCHING: Canadian author Elsie Sze is set to launch her new novel ‘Ghost Cave: a novel in Sarawak’ inspired by her father’s hometown of Bau on March 28 in Hong Kong.
Sze said the novel was inspired by her father who was born in Buso, Bau but left to study in Hong Kong just before World War II. He eventually settled there and never returned to Sarawak to live but only for visits.
“I write this story basically because of my father and my roots. I was born in Hong Kong and settled in Canada.
“But if you want to find out about your roots, you have to go back to the birthplace of your parents. My father was born here and my roots are here so that’s the reason I want to write a book about Sarawak,” Sze said.
Although ‘Ghost Cave: A Novel of Sarawak’ is a fictional story, Sze said the historical background was factual and based on research she made over the last eight years.
To ensure the authenticity of her novel, Sze travelled to Sarawak four times since 2006, staying in Bidayuh village of Annah Rais in the Padawan and Rumah Alo at Ngemah Ili up the Lemanek River.
‘Ghost Cave’ is Sze’s third novel. It is a story of tragedy, rebellion and interracial romance between a gold miner from China and a Bidayuh girl.
It also depicts two major events in Sarawak’s history; the Bau massacre in 1837 and communist insurgency during the 1960s.
Sze’s first novel ‘Hui Gui: a Chinese Story’ was nominated for Foreword magazine’s Book of the Year Award in Fiction, 2006. Her second novel, the Heart of the Buddha, was shortlisted for the Foreword Magazine 2009 Multicultural Fiction Book of the Year Award.
She won the Saphira Prize for the unpublished manuscript of ‘Ghost Cave: a novel of Sarawak’ sponsored by the Women in Publishing Society in Hong Kong last year.
The 68-year-old author is a former teacher and librarian. She is currently looking for a book deal from local bookstores to make it accessible for Malaysian readers.
Until then, the ebook version is now available at major online outlets such as <www.amazon.com> and <www.barnesandnoble.com>. It is also available for download from App Store as an iBook on Apple device.
“The hardcopy book will be available to order in print edition from these online bookstores by the launch date of March 28,” she said.