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Malaysia / All works

Novel

Storms of Yesterday

Badai Semalam

Khadijah Hashim · 1968

Synopsis

Yesterday's storm: Mazni, a brilliant pre-university student, has grown up in poverty beside her elderly, sick mother, in the servants' quarters of her mother's former employer. She dreams of entering university and becoming a doctor, and has promised her friend Zaki to continue her studies. But she must support her mother and pay for her care: Mazni leaves school for a job, without giving up studying on her own.

Context

The author's first novel, the book was published in 1968 by Pustaka Nasional, in Singapore. It was long read in the schools of Singapore and Malaysia, and a study by Sultan Idris University sees in it the praise of a young woman who reconciles ambition and family duty. Often reissued, it was translated into English in 1991, then into Spanish in 2010, and adapted for television.

Who it is for

A novel in Malay of about two hundred pages, easy to read; it can also be read in English, but not in French.

Prizes and reception

It became a school textbook in Singapore and Malaysia; translated into English, then into Spanish.

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