The Unrepentant: Short Stories

by Sharmini Aphrodite

“Dark and elliptical, these stories have the feverish allure of half-remembered dreams.” —Jeremy Tiang, author, State of Emergency

In 14 thrilling stories about desire, faith, and ideology, The Unrepentant captures the revolutionary fervor of Malaya at a formative time for Southeast Asia.

In Malaya (present-day Malaysia and Singapore), when the British imposed the Emergency to crush leftist and independence movements, the insurgents fought back with ingenuity and ferocity. The Unrepentant tells the stories of these insurgents who loved, doubted, grieved, and hungered amid a revolution. A guerilla draws a priest into the cause. A translator debates the language of the revolution. A tin miner falls in love. A brother aspires to be Malaysia’s first cosmonaut. An exile returns home.

From the tropical night of the jungle to shophouse flats, in which the war for Malayan liberation was imagined and fought, these intimate stories span the 1940s to the 2010s and challenge archival perspectives of the period, blurring the borders between fiction and fact, history and memory. Braiding together the diverse perspectives of Chinese and Malay communists, Tamil estate laborers, Soviet movie-makers, and leftist Christian movements, The Unrepentant pulls the reader into a recent past that still echoes into the present.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

196 pages, Paperback

Published November 29, 2025

Reviews

[Bella Azam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Unrepentant by Sharmini Aphrodite is unflinchingly Malaysian. Collection of stories rooted in history of Malaya, liberation, cultures, identity, faiths & the revolution. Its haunting, lyrical narrative captured the postwar Malaya in its depth revolutionary. This is a great read and Im looking forward to more works from this author after a promising collection

Thank u to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc

[Hestia Istiviani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whenever I read good ARC, I intentionally seek for the way to buy a copy of it once published.

It happened also when I got accepted to review The Unrepentant: Short Stories by Malaysian author, Sharmini Aphrodite. The fact that she is a Malay woman writing about Malaya is the main reason why I want to read it. (I realized I haven't read many about Malaya).

There are 14 short stories, most of it are speculative fiction. It instantly hooked me since the very first story--how if Malaya have ever flew an astronaut. Reading these stories has brought me to another dimension I haven't discovered yet.

Through these stories, I uncover how communist being portrayed as "bad guy" right after the World War 2 in Malaya, how most of people were afraid of any "communist" and they were trying to avoid it at all cost. Yeah, the same with what happened in Indonesia, I think.

Eventho there are speculative fictions, I didn't feel it as one. I guess thanks to my big-zero knowledge on Malaya history, but the stories are so good I want to read another book just like The Unrepentant.

If you want to try any Malaysian writing, I extremely recommend you to read The Unrepentant by Sharmini Aphrodite.

(Unfortunately, it's not available in Indonesia. Yes I know, I also stressed out because of this huhuhu why do good books from SEA publishers are not widely ready here??)

Thank you @gaudyboysu via @netgalley for the ARC. I REALLY LOVE IT 💖

(Book is available on Book Bar Singapore and Lit Books Malaysia)

[Hannah Wilkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5⭐️

A new favourite read! I’m looking forward to seeing more of Sharmini Aphrodite’s works.

Why I loved this (notes I made whilst reading):

- poignant and lyrical, real and enlightening.
- Moving
- Told in very removed yet personal ways- names aren’t used but terms of endearment and the perspectives are rooted in the day-to-day life/reality- the average day- the integral parts of what makes us human- religion, politics, familial ties, collective and individual identity, community and social ideals/ beliefs.
- Favourite so far is the one hundred perumals story
- atlantic city- broken english is very clever and gives the storytelling personality and power- relatability.
-editor note at the end provides the background information, clearly well written and researched- fantastic dedication.

[Gabrielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

the unrepentant is a collection of stories that surprised me. more than its unflinching focus on the domestic and personal challenges faced by revolutionaries in a subversive time in malaysia, it is a collection of stories demonstrating a special kind of tenderness that i’m still reeling from.

i was already hooked right from the first story. sharmini aphrodite has a pleasant rhythm to her writing that makes it feel like it knows how to take a proper breath. it is careful and intentional, leaving space for what is left unsaid and everything else in between. her writing in this collection was able to bear the weight of emotions that come alive in a time of insurgency, especially the preemptive grief accompanying the uncertainty of the future and handling the loss of leaving everything behind to join the resistance.

aphrodite was able to handle these emotions with grace and dignity and i was so terribly impressed with the variety of characters that came alive across the pages. while it is grounded in malaysian culture and history (that i am not personally privy to), i could easily imagine the kind of people she was writing about because of how intimately she gleans upon them and their humanity.

there's also admirable about the tactile quality of her writing, which brought out something tender in all her stories. charged with grief and uncertainty, the characters all seem to share an acknowledgement of how to say goodbye. as a result, they (and the writing) hold onto their memories tightly, from the angle of light on the last day they saw their families or kampung community, to the humidity curdling around every reminder of what they gave up for what they want to fight for.

you feel for the characters, particularly their yearning, and all of their emotions are heightened by the sensory imagery aphrodite generously provides. it’s writing that has a lot of heart.

this was just such a moving collection that has left me in a state of wanting to read more from sharmini aphrodite, as soon as possible. i also appreciated the contextual information she provided in the editor’s note and i’m going to make time to peruse more resources to grasp the history present in her stories.

overall, a solid 5-star read. one of my favorites this year and probably for a long while. whatever sharmini aphrodite decides to release next, i will be sat.

much thanks to netgalley and gaudy boy for granting me an arc!!!

[Madeleine Sachdev · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley and Gaudy Boy for the ARC of The Unrepentant.
These short stories explore themes of exile and displacement in compassionate and heartfelt prose which was so engaging I was hooked from the first sentence. I loved the way the stories intertwined and connected to each other. Each story felt well researched and I found Aphrodite’s notes after interesting, especially her mention of reclaiming histories through literature and in particular amplifying Southeast Asian voices. These stories feel just that, an important reclamation of the history and conflict of Malaysia, and the surrounding countries, voiced by the people living it. For me the stand out was the opener ‘The Light of God’ and one line in particular sums up Aphrodite’s skill at shining a light on the heart of conflict and what it means for the people affected by it, ‘All those dreams he had shelved, faced with the reality of living’. I will definitely be looking to read more from Aphrodite in the future.

[Anna Tan]

I'm reluctant to put a star rating on this one. The stories are tight, hard-hitting. They speak volumes of the era, revealing unspoken biases and grudges that have been passed down through generations, a peek into what the silent minorities in our midst have experienced and continue to experience. These are things young Malaysians should read to understand our histories, where we come from.

Yet, I find myself drifting halfway through the collection. I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, especially around World War 2, and whilst this sort of circumvents my feelings about that specific era, at some point, the stories start to feel seem too similar. Sharmini seems to loop round several times - I can't tell if the stories refer to the same unnamed rebel (insurrectionist?), from different perspectives in different eras - or if it's a different person but with similar histories. I'm a noblebright kind of reader myself; I want a bit more hope in my stories than appear here.

And there are a lot of dark pain points in these tales - The Unrepentant: Short Stories is a visceral exploration of generational loss and sacrifice as well as Malaysia's struggle for independence. History is told by the victors, but in this collection, Sharmini shows us other perspectives and how everyone then, despite their differences in approach and clashing ideologies, were still working towards the same goal: Independence for Malaya.

Stories of note:
The Light of God is a great opening story, capturing me right from the start.
One Hundred Perumals is the voice of a people crying out for justice. There's a mythological feel to this, a creation of a hero of folklore, creating a beacon in the dark.
Atlantic City is an interesting exploration of voice, but with all the hedging going on as the POV character speaks around the main issue, whatever it is, it feels like the core of the story is lost. (It's explained in the Author's Note)
Kamus I like primarily because of its focus on language and intercultural marriages - what it means to marry out of your race, especially when one is a Malay and prescriptively Muslim. This is a uniquely Malaysian problem. How do you choose between your community and the one you love? It's a lose-lose situation, no matter what you decide.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Gaudy Boy via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

[Michael Doane · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Unrepentant is a bold, haunting collection one that refuses comfort, clarity, or easy moral distance. These stories pulse with revolutionary energy, moral ambiguity, and emotional restraint, capturing a history too often flattened or erased.

Set against the backdrop of the Malayan Emergency and extending into the present, Sharmini Aphrodite’s fourteen stories immerse readers in the lives of those caught inside movements for liberation. Guerrillas, translators, laborers, lovers, exiles, believers each character inhabits a moment where ideology collides with desire, faith, doubt, and grief. The revolution is never abstract here; it is intimate, personal, and costly.

Aphrodite’s prose is elliptical and atmospheric, allowing meaning to surface gradually, like memory itself. The jungle at night, the shophouse flat, the tin mine, the church each setting is rendered with a quiet intensity that blurs the boundary between fiction and historical record. These stories do not explain history so much as inhabit it, challenging archival silences and official narratives.

What makes The Unrepentant especially compelling is its multiplicity of voices. Chinese and Malay communists, Tamil estate laborers, leftist Christians, Soviet filmmakers each perspective expands the moral and emotional terrain of the collection. Rather than judging its characters, the book listens to them, honoring their contradictions and unresolved convictions.

This is a collection about people who loved and doubted while living under extraordinary pressure who dreamed of futures that history would later deny or distort. The Unrepentant insists that these lives mattered, and that their stories still echo into the present.

Unflinching, lyrical, and deeply political without ever becoming didactic, The Unrepentant is a remarkable work of historical imagination. It will resonate strongly with readers drawn to revolutionary history, postcolonial literature, and fiction that interrogates the line between memory and myth.

[Lisa Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Unrepentant” by Sharmini Aphrodite is a riveting and masterfully crafted collection that brings to life one of Southeast Asia’s most turbulent, mythologized, and often misunderstood eras. Through fourteen exquisitely written stories, Aphrodite illuminates the emotional, ideological, and deeply human experiences of those who lived, loved, and struggled during the Malayan Emergency.

What makes this collection extraordinary is its ability to blend history and imagination with seamless grace. Aphrodite writes with an almost dreamlike intensity, dark, elliptical, and hauntingly vivid, echoing the fevered uncertainty of revolution itself. Each story feels like stepping into a memory: intimate, disorienting, and saturated with longing. Whether following a guerilla who entangles a priest in the cause, a translator wrestling with the language of liberation, or a tin miner whose yearning transcends ideology, the characters feel profoundly alive, their hopes and contradictions illuminated with striking empathy.

Spanning from the 1940s to the 2010s, these stories push back against sanitized archival narratives, giving voice to the forgotten, the misunderstood, and the unrepentant. Aphrodite’s ability to inhabit such a range of perspectives, Chinese and Malay communists, Tamil laborers, leftist Christians, filmmakers, exiles, speaks to her remarkable storytelling power and her deep understanding of the region’s fractured history.

Rich in atmosphere, charged with political and emotional urgency, “The Unrepentant” is a luminous, necessary work that lingers long after the final page. It is both a reclamation of memory and a testament to the resilience of those who dared to imagine a different future. A bold, unforgettable contribution to Southeast Asian literature.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Unrepentant magnifies the stories of the historically minimized people who took part in the insurgency surrounding the British imposed Emergency. It whispers the humanity of people whose humanity was violently stripped away. These stories read like a series of intermingled visions, memories, and dreams fused together in an intentional order to demonstrate, not state, quiet conclusions to significant questions. At once disorienting and affecting, The Unrepentant is unforgettable.

Readers with no background in Malay slang and South Asian culture may struggle at times, but with the internet close at hand that should not scare anyone off. Some of the stories are stronger than others with a bit of a lull in the middle stories, but it starts and finishes strong. My personal favorite was Atlantic City as it connected with my emotions in the one way I felt had been missing up to that point. If you have any interest in Malaysian stories, pick up The Unrepentant without hesitation.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gaudy Boy for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[A Dreaming Bibliophile · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to Netgalley and Gaudy Boy for providing me with an eARC.

This was a unique collection of stories set in Malaya (Malaysia and Singapore as well). The stories felt very authentic coming from a person with related/exact lived experiences. I enjoyed the stories in the beginning (The Light of God) and some towards the end (Tashkent). The middle part didn't really catch my attention because they either felt too dragged or too short for me to get into the story or feel anything. The stories live up to the title of the book -- they're unrepentant for any decisions that they made and they're proud of it. I didn't have enough context to the historical events referenced, to fully enjoy the book but it'll definitely be great for someone who does. The author's note/end note was great in the way it explained both the references and the motivation behind each story. I would recommend this to anyone into this historical setting or anyone willing to learn.

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars - This was a really strong and moving collection of short stories, each with its own unique style and voice. The themes of colonization, language, identity, communism, religion, and the ecological landscape of Malaysia were woven so well throughout each story. There is just so much history embedded beautifully into each narrative. What I thought was really interesting was how Aphrodite was able to craft such a rich landscape and characters with very few physical descriptors. It was really well done. In her End Note, Aphrodite includes some background information on the short stories, which I found very helpful and highly interesting. The Unrepentant made me want to learn more about Malaysia's history and social movements, and I will definitely keep an eye out for her next published works!

Thank you NetGalley and Gaudy Boy for the arc!

[Rashmi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bold, history-rich story collection that uncovers marginalized Malaysian pasts through fourteen intimate, atmospheric narratives. Set amid jungles, plantations, migrations, and the Second Malayan Emergency, the stories grapple with death, disappearance, political struggle, and fractured belonging. Aphrodite blends thriller-like tension, oral-lore textures, and local English registers to evoke lives shaped by insurgency, borders, exile, and unfulfilled yearning. Rather than conventional storytelling, the collection foregrounds “un-erasure,” restoring overlooked people and histories while inviting readers to learn cultural nuances organically. Its greatest offering is a deepened curiosity about what “Malay” has meant, and might yet mean.

[J R · Rating 5 out of 5]

a lot of dark and tragic aspects here, but the stories as a whole are enlightening and taut interrogations of what it means to be Malaysian and I think they were an interesting read. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

[Nicole Pi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Strong first half. "The Light of God," "The Request," "Doghowl," and "Again, Through the Glass" were standouts. I found the last couple of stories a little dragging.

Many thanks to Gaudy Boy for the eARC <3

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of short stories about loss, exile, and choices centered around the Malayan liberation movement.