Sunbirds begins by introducing the central character of Anna, the mixed-race daughter of a wealthy plantation owner living in the Dutch East Indies in the lead up to WWII. Anna is engaged to Dutch pilot Mattijs and seemingly has everything. It’s not until dark family secrets spill out on the eve of the Japanese invasion of Java that Anna is forced to question everything she has known.
Because I'm Eurasian I was interested in looking at this character who is part Asian but lives in a world that favours the white, the Dutch.Mirandi Riwoe
Two parallel stories of Eurasian women form the core of the book. Anna's story portrays a life of parties and privilege. Alongside it is the story of Fientje, a young woman from the local village who is the illegitimate child of an affair between Dutch and Indonesian parents.
The novel is a rich, lyrical exploration of the sexual politics of colonisation told through the stories of women who are caught between two worlds.
Navigating proximity to the powerful Dutch becomes an exercise in survival as characters are forced to shed parts of their mixed race identities.
All these women are trying to find, in a world where they don't have a lot of power, what power they can.Mirandi Riwoe
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CREDITS
Executive producer and host - Sarah Malik
Sound engineer - Micky Grossman
