How We Disappeared: A Novel
By Jing-Jing Lee
2019
Set in Singapore across two timelines, How We Disappeared begins in 1942 during the Japanese occupation, when seventeen-year-old Wang Di is taken from her village and forced into sexual slavery as a comfort woman. Sixty years later, still burdened by silence and trauma, Wang Di lives a painful life shaped by what she endured and lost. In the year 2000, her grandson, twelve-year-old Kevin, overhears a cryptic confession from his dying grandmother and begins unraveling a family mystery that spans generations. As the past and present converge, hidden histories come to light, including stories of survival, shame, and the extraordinary resilience of women whose suffering was erased from public memory. Through Wang Di’s voice and Kevin’s investigation, the novel reconstructs a fragment of Singapore’s wartime past that had long been silenced.
Jing-Jing Lee’s debut novel is a deeply moving exploration of intergenerational trauma, historical amnesia, and the redemptive power of truth. Weaving fiction with threads of lived experience, Lee brings visibility to a chapter of Southeast Asian history often excluded from mainstream narratives. The novel highlights the lasting impact of war on women, the silence surrounding sexual violence, and the moral urgency of remembrance. Drawing inspiration from her own family’s stories and extensive research, Lee crafts a quiet yet powerful narrative that honors the courage it takes to speak out after decades of enforced silence.
About the Author:
Jing-Jing Lee is a Singaporean writer whose work spans fiction, poetry, and short stories, often focused on memory, loss, and marginalized voices. She earned a Master of Studies in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, How We Disappeared, was published in 2019 to critical acclaim, earning a spot on the Women’s Prize for Fiction longlist and inclusion in the Big Jubilee Read, a curated list of 70 Commonwealth novels. Prior to this, Lee published the short story collection If I Could Tell You and the poetry collection And Other Rivers. Through her writing, Lee seeks to illuminate overlooked corners of Singaporean and regional history with lyrical clarity and emotional resonance.