# How We Disappeared

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***How We Disappeared: A Novel*** is a 2019 [historical fiction](/source/Historical_fiction) novel by [Singaporean](/source/Singapore) author [Jing-Jing Lee](/source/Jing-Jing_Lee), written in English.[1]

## Background

Lee developed the book from a short story she wrote, "Cardboard Lady," that appeared in her first collection, *If I Could Tell You* (2013). She named the main character Chiow Tee after her own mother; the name means "care for a brother" ([照](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%85%A7)[弟](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%BC%9F) *zhàodì*). She wanted to focus attention on the "[comfort women](/source/Comfort_women)" taken to work as slaves in Japanese military brothels, unlike other fiction about the occupation of Singapore which focused on resistance violence and male [prisoners of war](/source/Prisoners_of_war).[2][3]

## Plot

Singapore, the year 2000: a twelve-year-old boy hears a mumbled confession from his grandmother on her deathbed, which leads him to doubt all he thought he knew about his families history.

## Reception

In the *[Financial Times](/source/Financial_Times)*, Zoë Apostolides praised the novel, saying "Lee intersperses these sections with real structural skill to form a deeply affecting whole, and one that reincarnates the disappeared by telling their many disparate stories."[4]

*How We Disappeared* was shortlisted for the [Singapore Literature Prize](/source/Singapore_Literature_Prize), and longlisted for the [Women's Prize for Fiction](/source/Women's_Prize_for_Fiction) and the HWA Debut Crown (a prize for historical writing).[5][6]

In 2022, *How We Disappeared* was included on the [Big Jubilee Read](/source/Big_Jubilee_Read), a list of 70 books by [Commonwealth](/source/Commonwealth_of_Nations) authors produced to celebrate [Queen Elizabeth II](/source/Queen_Elizabeth_II)'s [Platinum Jubilee](/source/Platinum_Jubilee_of_Elizabeth_II).[7][8]

## References

1. Banerjee, Argha Krishna (28 August 2020). ["Secret horrors from 1940's Singapore"](https://www.telegraphindia.com/culture/books/review-how-we-disappeared-by-jing-jing-lee/cid/1790230). *Telegraph India*. Retrieved 7 May 2022.

1. Fisk, Alan (August 2019). ["How We Disappeared: An Interview with Jing-Jing Lee"](https://historicalnovelsociety.org/how-we-disappeared-an-interview-with-jing-jing-lee/). *Historical Novels Review*. Retrieved 7 May 2022.

1. Blumberg-Kason, Susan (29 August 2019). [""How We Disappeared" by Jing-Jing Lee"](https://asianreviewofbooks.com/content/how-we-disappeared-by-jing-jing-lee/). *Asian Review of Books*. Retrieved 7 May 2022.

1. Apostolides, Zoë (28 June 2019). ["How We Disappeared — the open wounds of a comfort woman"](https://www.ft.com/content/2f8f0b04-821a-11e9-a7f0-77d3101896ec). *Financial Times*. Retrieved 7 May 2022.

1. [""How We Disappeared""](https://www.worldcat.org/title/how-we-disappeared/oclc/). *WorldCat*. Retrieved 7 May 2022.

1. ["How We Disappeared"](https://web.archive.org/web/20220527193355/https://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/features/book/how-we-disappeared). *Women's Prize for Fiction*. Archived from [the original](https://womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/features/book/how-we-disappeared) on 27 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.

1. Sherwood, Harriet (18 April 2022). ["The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen's jubilee book list"](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/apr/18/the-god-of-small-things-to-shuggie-bain-the-queens-jubilee-book-list). *The Guardian*. Retrieved 7 May 2022.

1. ["The Big Jubilee Read: Books from 2012 to 2022"](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4RNfHvd2sxNlHDFFqzTGVKc/the-big-jubilee-read-2012-2022). *BBC*. 17 April 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [How We Disappeared](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_We_Disappeared) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_We_Disappeared?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.