Cassie McCullagh

The book is called Under Your Wing, and it's by Tiffany Tsao.

It begins in a hospital room with a voice from a hospital bed, and this is the character Gwendolyn, our narrator, and she confides something to us.

When your sister murders 300 people, yourself included, you can't help but wonder why.

Though I do forgive her, if you can believe it.

I tried my best to deny the strength of family ties when everyone was still alive, but now I realise the truth of the cliche.

Blood does run thick, even if poison apparently trumps all.

So Claire, what did you make of that as an opener?

It's interesting that this week, Crazy Rich Asians, the film version has just come out and stormed the box office, I think, which is on a similar theme, though not Indonesian-Chinese.

Part of it is about having a distinctly Chinese identity, even though it is these people live in Indonesia.

And part of the way in which it's also a family saga is

is trying to work out how they understand themselves as a family.

At one point, there's a character at this huge family feast, and he raises a toast to the whole family.

And he doesn't do it properly.

He breaks all of the rules of privilege and ritual and who's supposed to speak first.

But he makes a reference to being a Javanese Indonesian, muted gasps of horror.

And then he says, yes, my great-grandmother was Javanese.

So what?

And your father is Italian.

So you're half Bule.

And our children are Chinese, part Italian and part Javanese.