What do you think?
Rate this book
Run, My Daughters, Run
Not yet published
Expected 6 Oct 26368 pages, Paperback
Expected publication October 6, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 22, 2026
What a gorgeous book of the beauty of human resilience. A much needed story to remind us of the atrocities of war and a tribute to those who lived and endured such brutality. Their stories and struggles will never be forgotten.
Read
September 7, 2026Su Kim’s novel is an evocative portrait of a Peranakan family caught in the darkness of the Japanese occupation of Malaya. Against a landscape of fear, deprivation and uncertainty, it explores love and loss, courage and helplessness, and the sacrifices demanded by family and survival. At its heart is a deeply human story, giving particular voice to women whose lives are irrevocably shaped by war.
The story unfolds through Pei Lin, the Lees’ seventeen-year-old daughter, whose dreams of higher education and a better future are abruptly extinguished by the occupation. Her coming of age takes place amid danger and uncertainty. Through her eyes, we witness the courage of her parents, Kim Neo and Henry, and their Amah, as they struggle to protect their children. Particularly Pei Lin and her sisters from abduction and the horrific fate of becoming “comfort women”.
Yet the novel is not without warmth. Su Kim tempers its sombre subject matter with humour, colloquial language and the distinctive customs of Peranakan life. These moments of lightness lend the characters vitality, reminding us that even amid war, people continue to laugh, love and cling to fragments of ordinary life.
Most haunting is Mei Li’s disappearance. Her sacrifice to secure Henry’s release, as a comfort woman, is deeply tragic. The revelation that she is Kim Neo’s daughter deepens the anguish of a mother. She is forced to confront the consequences of having surrendered her child soon after birth, and then living with the knowledge of Mei Li’s fate.
Ultimately, the novel is a moving tapestry of history, culture, suspense and resilience. Mei Li’s unresolved fate lingers beyond the final page, and the tantalising possibility of another chapter. In that uncertainty lies one of the novel’s most enduring qualities: a reminder that the stories of war do not always end when the fighting stops. They remain in the memories of those who survived, in the sacrifices that can never be undone, and in the silence surrounding those who were lost.
The story unfolds through Pei Lin, the Lees’ seventeen-year-old daughter, whose dreams of higher education and a better future are abruptly extinguished by the occupation. Her coming of age takes place amid danger and uncertainty. Through her eyes, we witness the courage of her parents, Kim Neo and Henry, and their Amah, as they struggle to protect their children. Particularly Pei Lin and her sisters from abduction and the horrific fate of becoming “comfort women”.
Yet the novel is not without warmth. Su Kim tempers its sombre subject matter with humour, colloquial language and the distinctive customs of Peranakan life. These moments of lightness lend the characters vitality, reminding us that even amid war, people continue to laugh, love and cling to fragments of ordinary life.
Most haunting is Mei Li’s disappearance. Her sacrifice to secure Henry’s release, as a comfort woman, is deeply tragic. The revelation that she is Kim Neo’s daughter deepens the anguish of a mother. She is forced to confront the consequences of having surrendered her child soon after birth, and then living with the knowledge of Mei Li’s fate.
Ultimately, the novel is a moving tapestry of history, culture, suspense and resilience. Mei Li’s unresolved fate lingers beyond the final page, and the tantalising possibility of another chapter. In that uncertainty lies one of the novel’s most enduring qualities: a reminder that the stories of war do not always end when the fighting stops. They remain in the memories of those who survived, in the sacrifices that can never be undone, and in the silence surrounding those who were lost.
September 14, 2026
A carefully crafted story of courage, resourcefulness and family unity, set in war time Malaya during the Japanese occupation. It is a gritty, ‘no holds barred’ story, showcasing the brutality of the Japanese invaders and the conditions that the regular people were forced to endure. Centered around one family with the irrepressible mother of the household doing her best to hold things together through thick and thin.
The tension that was sustained when the girls were forced to leave the house urgently and hide from the Japanese soldiers was real and the implications, if they should be caught, went without saying. Then when young Fern was caught, you had us on tenterhooks hoping anxiously for a miracle that would enable her to avoid the horrors of becoming a comfort woman, even though she was just a child. The child component of it made the situation so much worse.
The occupation years were truly awful for many, and the rawness of it all was well researched and presented. The counterpoint used in describing the way things had been before the occupation with wonderful books to read, freedom of movement and multiple food dishes, beautifully described that were available and the freedom that everyone used to take for granted was not lost on the reader. Despite the deprivations, there were glimmers of hope that this would one day come to an end. Ma held the family together at great personal cost and the bond she shared with her stoic husband did not need to be spelled out, you just knew how strong it was. Ma and Henry are the real heroes in this story.
There’s a message here for us today. We should truly appreciate the privilege we enjoy in contemporary life with abundant food and resources; it could disappear in a blink, as it did for the Lee family in 1942.
It is a story that drags you in, compelling you to keep going and find out what happens next. This is a masterclass in story telling and a great credit to the author.
The tension that was sustained when the girls were forced to leave the house urgently and hide from the Japanese soldiers was real and the implications, if they should be caught, went without saying. Then when young Fern was caught, you had us on tenterhooks hoping anxiously for a miracle that would enable her to avoid the horrors of becoming a comfort woman, even though she was just a child. The child component of it made the situation so much worse.
The occupation years were truly awful for many, and the rawness of it all was well researched and presented. The counterpoint used in describing the way things had been before the occupation with wonderful books to read, freedom of movement and multiple food dishes, beautifully described that were available and the freedom that everyone used to take for granted was not lost on the reader. Despite the deprivations, there were glimmers of hope that this would one day come to an end. Ma held the family together at great personal cost and the bond she shared with her stoic husband did not need to be spelled out, you just knew how strong it was. Ma and Henry are the real heroes in this story.
There’s a message here for us today. We should truly appreciate the privilege we enjoy in contemporary life with abundant food and resources; it could disappear in a blink, as it did for the Lee family in 1942.
It is a story that drags you in, compelling you to keep going and find out what happens next. This is a masterclass in story telling and a great credit to the author.
Review of advance copy
A personal, moving account of a family living in wartime Malaya during the Japanese Occupation. Written mainly from the perspective of a teenage girl, the narrative is engaging and moves at a brisk pace, with vignettes of life under the brutal rule of the Japanese. Humorous at times, with no dead spots, the book is a compelling read building up to its climactic reveal.
Written in an easy, sometimes elegant, prose style, this historical novel examines a little explored topic - what was life like for the ordinary citizen caught up during the japanese Occupation of Malaya? Rich cultural details, banter and dialogue in the local patois provide a sense of place and time. At the core, this is a story of survival, strength and family bonds in a time of want and despair.
For a generation that never lived through the occupation, the book gives voice to a past generation, and remembers them from their fears, hopes and what they endured in wartime Malaya.
Written in an easy, sometimes elegant, prose style, this historical novel examines a little explored topic - what was life like for the ordinary citizen caught up during the japanese Occupation of Malaya? Rich cultural details, banter and dialogue in the local patois provide a sense of place and time. At the core, this is a story of survival, strength and family bonds in a time of want and despair.
For a generation that never lived through the occupation, the book gives voice to a past generation, and remembers them from their fears, hopes and what they endured in wartime Malaya.
Review of advance copy
Such an important part of our history, I couldn’t put it down! So well written I felt like I was a part of the family by the end of it 😩🥹
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews