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Kirana: Dreams After the Rose
KIRANA: DREAMS AFTER THE ROSE is the story of Kirana, a teenage artist who finds fame after she loses her father in a plane crash. Soon after, her mother succumbs to cancer and Kirana’s life is in limbo. She stops painting and soon loses interest in life.
One night, Kirana wakes up and notices beautiful roses by her bedside. She then sees a painting in her room. A painting of a door. Upon touching it, Kirana is transported to Melaka 500 years ago. There, she meets Tun Fatimah and Sultan Mahmud Shah during the last days of Melaka, before the Portuguese attack. She develops feelings for the hero, Hang Nadim, feelings that she denies.
But was it all really a dream? She is convinced it is so.
One night, Kirana wakes up and notices beautiful roses by her bedside. She then sees a painting in her room. A painting of a door. Upon touching it, Kirana is transported to Melaka 500 years ago. There, she meets Tun Fatimah and Sultan Mahmud Shah during the last days of Melaka, before the Portuguese attack. She develops feelings for the hero, Hang Nadim, feelings that she denies.
But was it all really a dream? She is convinced it is so.
148 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2017
About the author
ninotaziz
26 books69 followersninotaziz is an award winning author and storyteller of many generations – daughter of Abang Tik,daughter of Chu Rahmah, daughter of Yang Chik, daughter of Bebunga.
Born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, ninotaziz grew up in the idyllic village of Chenor, Temerloh, Pahang, Malaysia. She studied at Sekolah Seri Puteri, Kuala Lumpur where she discovered her passion for writing. Encouraged by her English teacher, Mrs Khaw Choon Ean and her mother, Puan Kamariah Jaafar, today, ninotaziz specializes in Malaysian legends.
Ninot has written more than 50 published books to date, and has collaborated with authors, academicians and writers from many countries, including Canada, China, Germany, Georgia, Italy, Indonesia, The Philippines, Singapore, Turkiye and the UK.
Her most recent publications are the Malay Archipelago Illustrated Encyclopaedia Series, PENGLIPUR LARA, LEYLA'S QUEST in both Bahasa Melayu and English (translated to Persian, Indonesia) Her earlier works are From The Written Stone, HIKAYAT – From The Ancient Malay Kingdoms, SRIKANDI, and novels NAGA, ONANGKIU, SITI, NIK & THE SUNSET SHIP,BIDASARI & THE DJINN, BENTALA NAGA, Lipur Lara Nusantara (50 Best Malaysia Books 2020/2021), Lipur Lara Alam Melayu (50 Best Malaysia Books 2021/2022), PUTERI SAADONG & SERI GUMUM.
Awards:
KEPULAUAN MELAYU | Ensiklopedia Berilustrasi Tamadun Dunia Silam (50 Best Malaysian Books)
DRAGONLORE From East and West (50 Best Malaysian Books (2024)
Lipur Lara Alam Melayu (50 Malaysia Best 2021/2022)
Lipur Lara Nusantara (50 Malaysia Best 2020/2021)
NIK & THE SUNSET SHIP - Winner Calistro 2014 Awards
Onangkiu - MyCreative Ventures 2014 Grand Prize & Calistro Awards 2012
HIKAYAT - PNM RTM Book Prize 2013 - Top 5 Popular Books
SITI - MyCreative Awards 2014 Consolation and Calistro Awards 2013
From The Written Stone - MBBY Award 2007
The author also blogs at :
http://www.poemsbyninotaziz.blogspot....
http://www.pantundanselokaninotaziz.b...
ninotaziz is married to Rudy Daud. The family is blessed with five daughters. They enjoy the theatre and gamelan.
ninotaziz is currently working on various book projects, movie making and her next YA novel, Empire.
Born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, ninotaziz grew up in the idyllic village of Chenor, Temerloh, Pahang, Malaysia. She studied at Sekolah Seri Puteri, Kuala Lumpur where she discovered her passion for writing. Encouraged by her English teacher, Mrs Khaw Choon Ean and her mother, Puan Kamariah Jaafar, today, ninotaziz specializes in Malaysian legends.
Ninot has written more than 50 published books to date, and has collaborated with authors, academicians and writers from many countries, including Canada, China, Germany, Georgia, Italy, Indonesia, The Philippines, Singapore, Turkiye and the UK.
Her most recent publications are the Malay Archipelago Illustrated Encyclopaedia Series, PENGLIPUR LARA, LEYLA'S QUEST in both Bahasa Melayu and English (translated to Persian, Indonesia) Her earlier works are From The Written Stone, HIKAYAT – From The Ancient Malay Kingdoms, SRIKANDI, and novels NAGA, ONANGKIU, SITI, NIK & THE SUNSET SHIP,BIDASARI & THE DJINN, BENTALA NAGA, Lipur Lara Nusantara (50 Best Malaysia Books 2020/2021), Lipur Lara Alam Melayu (50 Best Malaysia Books 2021/2022), PUTERI SAADONG & SERI GUMUM.
Awards:
KEPULAUAN MELAYU | Ensiklopedia Berilustrasi Tamadun Dunia Silam (50 Best Malaysian Books)
DRAGONLORE From East and West (50 Best Malaysian Books (2024)
Lipur Lara Alam Melayu (50 Malaysia Best 2021/2022)
Lipur Lara Nusantara (50 Malaysia Best 2020/2021)
NIK & THE SUNSET SHIP - Winner Calistro 2014 Awards
Onangkiu - MyCreative Ventures 2014 Grand Prize & Calistro Awards 2012
HIKAYAT - PNM RTM Book Prize 2013 - Top 5 Popular Books
SITI - MyCreative Awards 2014 Consolation and Calistro Awards 2013
From The Written Stone - MBBY Award 2007
The author also blogs at :
http://www.poemsbyninotaziz.blogspot....
http://www.pantundanselokaninotaziz.b...
ninotaziz is married to Rudy Daud. The family is blessed with five daughters. They enjoy the theatre and gamelan.
ninotaziz is currently working on various book projects, movie making and her next YA novel, Empire.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 19, 2021
Whew! What a pleasant and light read! I love the blend of history and the fiction. It was carefully written. The author made the whole storyline feels so real as well.
This book helped me to recap my knowledge about the Malacca Sultanate history and understand it more than just in a school textbook back then when I was in high school.
EVERY MALAYSIAN SHOULD PICK UP THIS BOOK AND READ IT. YES YOU HEARD ME.
Why?
Because “takkan hilang Melayu di dunia” :)
This book helped me to recap my knowledge about the Malacca Sultanate history and understand it more than just in a school textbook back then when I was in high school.
EVERY MALAYSIAN SHOULD PICK UP THIS BOOK AND READ IT. YES YOU HEARD ME.
Why?
Because “takkan hilang Melayu di dunia” :)
August 22, 2019
Kirana: The Dream After The Rose is a book which the story is not as lengthy as a thick novel, but for me, that is a good thing. Having a good level of pace to the plot that makes it doesn't feel draggy. A well balanced.
What I love most about this book is how the author successfully blends the philosophy of paintings and colours into interesting plot stories. I was amazed at how the author depicted the paintings of Malacca in the 1511 of Kirana's work - which made me feel like I really wanted to see those paintings.
The theme of the story, which revolves around finding old Malay manuscripts feels like an aura of The Da Vinci Code (film); and the journey through time to the glory of Malacca reminds me of the concept of Animus in the Assassin's Creed games. Won't explain them further as it will spoil the whole story.
Tears filled my eyes reading the early chapters, something that rarely happen to me when reading a book. I rarely read a book, and then I cheered with myself when the final plot twist comes in, and this book did it successfully. My favourite chapter was definitely when Kirana met Dato 'Dr. Annabel Teh Gallop from The British Library, one of my personal favourite experts of Malay world.
Thank you Puan Ninot for this wonderful story. Can't wait to read another book of yours. Any recommendation for the next one? Haha.
What I love most about this book is how the author successfully blends the philosophy of paintings and colours into interesting plot stories. I was amazed at how the author depicted the paintings of Malacca in the 1511 of Kirana's work - which made me feel like I really wanted to see those paintings.
The theme of the story, which revolves around finding old Malay manuscripts feels like an aura of The Da Vinci Code (film); and the journey through time to the glory of Malacca reminds me of the concept of Animus in the Assassin's Creed games. Won't explain them further as it will spoil the whole story.
Tears filled my eyes reading the early chapters, something that rarely happen to me when reading a book. I rarely read a book, and then I cheered with myself when the final plot twist comes in, and this book did it successfully. My favourite chapter was definitely when Kirana met Dato 'Dr. Annabel Teh Gallop from The British Library, one of my personal favourite experts of Malay world.
Thank you Puan Ninot for this wonderful story. Can't wait to read another book of yours. Any recommendation for the next one? Haha.
May 17, 2017
I had no prior idea about this book even before I bought it other than the author is a friend and I was curious about her effort into the making of the book. My first impression was that this must be a young adult genre ....what with the 135 pages and coloured illustrations....surely anyone can finish it in a day.
Having read Indu Sundaresan's The Feast of Roses of the Taj Mahal Trilogy, I also wondered what is the significance of the rose in this story.
Indeed I fell in love with Ninotaziz's easy flow of words and her story telling ....of how she entwines the present with the past which fed my curiosity till the end. I kept asking whether the Orang Bunians had in fact transported Kirana to their parallel universe or was it simply just a mind playing out some memories embedded deeper aka from a previous life.......? True enough the author does mention similar stuff towards the end of the book. A very compelling story.
Kirana Tuah's mum is a Malacca Chinese trained in music (piano) and her dad a Perak Malay, trained in the arts. During his youth, he had experiences of being with the so called Orang Bunians. I can tell you that during my own childhood days, stories of Orang Bunian abound. In fact my own parents' friend's wife had gone missing for some months only to be found later on a tree!
After the death of Kirana's parents in succession, she had to come to grips with her own life. The ebbing back into the past ( how.....you gotta read the book lah ) was like reliving history in this case that of the last Sultanate of Malacca and his consort Tun Fatimah. I keep comparing her to what Nur Jahan/ Mehrunnisa was to Jahangir. Even Mehrunnisa's first husband, Ali Quli, had to die so that she became free to marry Jahangir. Tun Fatimah's first husband was Tun Ali and you all know his fate of course and that of Tun Fatimah's family ! Tun Kirana was Tun Fatimah's close friend and together they shared the presence of Tun Kirana's journal (in ancient jawi) which later became to be known as Hikayat Tun Fatimah. It is purportedly to have been taken back to England by Sir Stamford Raffles.
My only suggestion after reading the book is it might be helpful to non-Malaysian readers if a Glossary for the local words and terms used.
Having read Indu Sundaresan's The Feast of Roses of the Taj Mahal Trilogy, I also wondered what is the significance of the rose in this story.
Indeed I fell in love with Ninotaziz's easy flow of words and her story telling ....of how she entwines the present with the past which fed my curiosity till the end. I kept asking whether the Orang Bunians had in fact transported Kirana to their parallel universe or was it simply just a mind playing out some memories embedded deeper aka from a previous life.......? True enough the author does mention similar stuff towards the end of the book. A very compelling story.
Kirana Tuah's mum is a Malacca Chinese trained in music (piano) and her dad a Perak Malay, trained in the arts. During his youth, he had experiences of being with the so called Orang Bunians. I can tell you that during my own childhood days, stories of Orang Bunian abound. In fact my own parents' friend's wife had gone missing for some months only to be found later on a tree!
After the death of Kirana's parents in succession, she had to come to grips with her own life. The ebbing back into the past ( how.....you gotta read the book lah ) was like reliving history in this case that of the last Sultanate of Malacca and his consort Tun Fatimah. I keep comparing her to what Nur Jahan/ Mehrunnisa was to Jahangir. Even Mehrunnisa's first husband, Ali Quli, had to die so that she became free to marry Jahangir. Tun Fatimah's first husband was Tun Ali and you all know his fate of course and that of Tun Fatimah's family ! Tun Kirana was Tun Fatimah's close friend and together they shared the presence of Tun Kirana's journal (in ancient jawi) which later became to be known as Hikayat Tun Fatimah. It is purportedly to have been taken back to England by Sir Stamford Raffles.
My only suggestion after reading the book is it might be helpful to non-Malaysian readers if a Glossary for the local words and terms used.
February 3, 2021
3.8/5⭐
August 13, 2026
I like to give 3.5 stars for Kirana.
“I enjoyed the premise and particularly liked Ninot, but I struggled to maintain an emotional connection with Kirana once she entered the alternate time. I wanted stronger anchors to her original life—especially her longing for her parents. The ending also felt somewhat rushed, resolving the plot faster than it allowed me to emotionally process what had happened.
I finished the book, but I closed it with a lingering sense of ‘something was missing.’”
“I enjoyed the premise and particularly liked Ninot, but I struggled to maintain an emotional connection with Kirana once she entered the alternate time. I wanted stronger anchors to her original life—especially her longing for her parents. The ending also felt somewhat rushed, resolving the plot faster than it allowed me to emotionally process what had happened.
I finished the book, but I closed it with a lingering sense of ‘something was missing.’”
August 16, 2025
Truly enjoy this book. That miniature painting captioned - Tun Kirana, 1511. A pantun in archaic Jawi is so lovely.
Hendak dulang diberi dulang
Dulang berisi sagu mentah
Hendak pulang ku beri pulang
Tinggalkan pantun barang sepatah.
First history book i read. I will read more, in sha الله. Thank you author Ninotaziz, really love your writing style.
Hendak dulang diberi dulang
Dulang berisi sagu mentah
Hendak pulang ku beri pulang
Tinggalkan pantun barang sepatah.
First history book i read. I will read more, in sha الله. Thank you author Ninotaziz, really love your writing style.
February 23, 2025
Kirana yang baru sahaja kehilangan ayahnya bertambah sedih dengan pemergian ibunya pula. Hinggakan dia berubah menjadi seorang yang murung dan tidak lagi ceria. Suatu malam dia melihat sebuah lukisan yang akhirnya membawanya ke zaman lampau menjadi salah seorang kenalan Tun Fatimah. Malah dia turut menyaksikan segala tragedi yang menimpa keluarga Tun Fatimah dan Melaka.
SH sukakan konsep tidak sedarkan diri yang penulis gunakan sewaktu Kirana berada di dunia sebelah sana. Biasanya yang sering SH jumpa adalah perjalanan tersebut cuma dalam mimpi yang sekejap. Tetapi untuk Kirana ada masa yang dia tidak sedarkan diri selama berhari-hari.
SH juga sukakan kehadiran Tun Kirana di samping Tun Fatimah hanya sebagai pemerhati. Tiada cubaan untuk mengubah sejarah atau nasib seseorang. Malah bukan sahaja pemerhati melalui mata namun segala apa yang berlaku dicatatkan dalam bentuk penulisan.
SH masih geram dengan segala keterbatasan yang diletakkan kepada wanita. Hinggakan Kirana menulis dalam diam. Tun Fatimah belajar persilatan juga secara sembunyi. Dan membaca naskah sebegini membuatkan SH rasa bersyukur dilahirkan di zaman ini. Wanita boleh belajar, membaca, mengembara tanpa ada lagi sebarang halangan.
Kehilangan sememangnya amat perit untuk dilalui apatah lagi dua kehilangan berturutan. Hinggakan melukis yang dahulunya menjadi pengubat jiwa juga seolah-olah tidak mampu memberi kesan. Dan setiap orang ada cara dan perjalanan tersendiri untuk bangkit daripada kesedihan itu.
SH sukakan konsep tidak sedarkan diri yang penulis gunakan sewaktu Kirana berada di dunia sebelah sana. Biasanya yang sering SH jumpa adalah perjalanan tersebut cuma dalam mimpi yang sekejap. Tetapi untuk Kirana ada masa yang dia tidak sedarkan diri selama berhari-hari.
SH juga sukakan kehadiran Tun Kirana di samping Tun Fatimah hanya sebagai pemerhati. Tiada cubaan untuk mengubah sejarah atau nasib seseorang. Malah bukan sahaja pemerhati melalui mata namun segala apa yang berlaku dicatatkan dalam bentuk penulisan.
SH masih geram dengan segala keterbatasan yang diletakkan kepada wanita. Hinggakan Kirana menulis dalam diam. Tun Fatimah belajar persilatan juga secara sembunyi. Dan membaca naskah sebegini membuatkan SH rasa bersyukur dilahirkan di zaman ini. Wanita boleh belajar, membaca, mengembara tanpa ada lagi sebarang halangan.
Kehilangan sememangnya amat perit untuk dilalui apatah lagi dua kehilangan berturutan. Hinggakan melukis yang dahulunya menjadi pengubat jiwa juga seolah-olah tidak mampu memberi kesan. Dan setiap orang ada cara dan perjalanan tersendiri untuk bangkit daripada kesedihan itu.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews