While the story was interesting and realistic, it was really sad and fairly depressing watching the brutality unfold of both the Japanese in Malaysia and the utter selfishness of Cecily and how destructive her decisions were. It really kind of felt like one bad situation after another, both from her own making and from her family members. I didn’t like any of the characters to be honest. 

The writing also wasn’t my favorite - it was more of a Tell rather than Show - as you watched from the outside. Overall I liked learning about the Malaysian people’s experiences during ww2, but it was a very dark book without any real redemption in the story. 

Thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy of this book. All opinions are mine.