Slave

What is a slave? In 19th-century Malaya, Orang Asli are abducted from their villages in the forest to be put to work in the fields and in the mines, to have anything done unto them by the district chieftains—to be threatened, abused, hunted and killed like dogs. This world of slaves and their owners is one marked by cruelty and deceit, a world of hurt that cannot be cured with revenge and tears alone.

The dark chapter in the history of the Orang Asli in Perak is often left out of history books, but is told in this translation of Akiya’s groundbreaking novel Hamba.