Author: mrsmeganpete
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The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds by Selina Siak Chin Yoke
MALAYSIA The Woman Who Breathed Two Worlds by Selina Siak Chin Yoke is a richly detailed historical novel set in colonial Malaya, loosely inspired by the author’s own family history. I read it while travelling through Kota Bharu, one of Malaysia’s more traditional states, which gave the novel an added sense of resonance. There was…
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Nepal: temples, rhinos, clouds, and one very chaotic Valentine’s Day
Nepal had been sitting in my imagination for years before we ever got there. I think for a lot of New Zealanders, there is something about Nepal that feels strangely close, even before you arrive. Maybe it is Everest. Maybe it is Edmund Hillary. Maybe it is just that the mountains loom so large in…
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Five days in Sri Lanka: safari, tea country, and the coast
Sri Lanka was not originally part of our round-the-world journey. When delays to our van shipment opened up a window between Singapore and the next stage of our travels, we decided to squeeze in five nights in Sri Lanka. It was a short trip, and a fast one, but it gave us a real taste…
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All of Us in Our Own Lives – Manjushree Thapa
NEPAL Manjushree Thapa’s All of Us in Our Own Lives unfolds across contemporary Nepal and the wider world, tracing the intersecting lives of Ava Berriden, Indira Sharma, Sapana Karki, and Gyanu. Ava, adopted from Nepal and raised in Canada, returns to Kathmandu as an adult, working in international aid after stepping away from her corporate…
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Darkmotherland – Samrat Upadhyay
NEPAL I read Darkmotherland while travelling through Nepal on long, winding drives along roads that could clearly use more investment, in Nagarkot waiting for Mt Everest to pop through the clouds, and on a quiet balcony overlooking the lake in Pokhara. It is a novel about a country shaken by catastrophe and reshaped by power,…
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Missy – Raghav Rao
India I read Missy while in Chennai, a city of layered histories and quiet hierarchies. Having also spent time in Chicago, I felt unusually well positioned for a novel that moves between Tamil Nadu and the American Midwest. I even found myself scanning the city for the convent where Missy was raised, unsure whether it…
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The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida – Shehan Karunatilaka
SRI LANKA I read The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida while moving between Sri Lanka’s hill country and its coast, between mist-draped tea plantations and long stretches of luminous shoreline. The physical beauty of the country is almost overwhelming. It would be easy, as a visitor, to rest in that beauty and let the past…
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The Ministry of Moral Panic – Amanda Lee Koe
Singapore I read The Ministry of Moral Panic largely in the quiet margins of travel — in our hotel room and on the long flight from New Zealand, suspended somewhere between time zones. It felt fitting to encounter these stories in private spaces. Much of the collection turns on the tension between public order and…
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The Covenant of Water – Abraham Verghese
India I finished The Covenant of Water while we were in Chennai — a city that still carries echoes of its older name, Madras. Reading a novel so deeply rooted in Kerala and southern India while physically in the region added a quiet layer to the experience. The geography wasn’t abstract to me. Verghese spans…
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Three days in Singapore on a mid-range budget
Singapore was a short stop for us. Three days. Enough time to get a feel for it, not enough to do everything. It has a reputation for being expensive, and it can be. But we found that if you are selective about what you pay for, it works perfectly well as a mid-range destination. This…
The Peterson Odyssey 