Skip to content

Radio 2 Book Club extract of The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

Her decision changed history. Now her family must survive it.

British Malaya, 1930s
Discontented housewife Cecily is seduced by Japanese general Fujiwara and the glorious future he is promising for ‘independent’ Malaya, free from British colonialism. As she becomes further embedded as his own personal spy, she unwittingly alters the fate of her country by welcoming in a punishing form of dictatorship under the Japanese in WWII.

Japanese-occupied Malaya, 1945
Cecily and her family are barely surviving. Her children, Jujube, Abel and Jasmin, are surrounded by threat, and look to their mother to keep them safe. But she can’t tell them about the part she played in the war – and she doesn’t know how to protect them.
Can Cecily face up to her past to save her children? Or is it already too late…?

Read this exclusive extract now, as chosen by library staff across the UK for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club.

News

The Radio 2 Book Club with Sara Cox

The BBC Radio 2 Book Club returns! Sara Cox – who recently celebrated 25 years on BBC Radio – is the new host of the Radio 2 Book Club, which returned to Radio 2 on Tuesday 8 October. As well as coverage on Sara’s show, and other shows on Radio 2, there will be a weekly podcast on BBC Sounds.

Resources

How to start a reading group

Interested in joining a reading group or starting one of your own? Download our quick guide to getting started. You can also download icebreaker questions to help get your discussion started, and a social media guide to show how you can share your reading with others online.

News

UK’s Best Book Festivals of 2024

The UK is full of book festivals, and as we head into the summer, they’re popping up all over the country and are perfect for your book club to have a day, weekend or even week out. Book festivals are a brilliant opportunity to hear from your favourite writers, discover new ones, and meet other like-minded booklovers. You’ll be sure to walk away with a bag full of new books to enjoy! We’ve put together a list of some of our team’s favourite festivals. Can’t see one near you? You can watch...

View our other programmes