The author, commenting on her award-winning novel
Fistful of Colours, claims, “I was trying to see whether I could foreground history and write a novel in which individual and communal history become enmeshed. If the novel, as the blurb claims, is about three young women, why can't history be the fourth? Singapore history is both young and old at the same time, if you think about it.”
The novel begins with the story of Suwen, who does not know her father's identity and was brought up by her grandfather, until her mother took her to live with her stepfather. Not only has she grown up in a dysfunctional family, but has also been tortured by her memories of her stepfather's molestation of her and later, his abandonment of her mother. Working as a secondary school teacher and painter, she
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Citation: Lai, Amy. "Fistful of Colours". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 18 June 2003 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11867, accessed 11 May 2024.]
