The Weight of Our Sky

Hanna Alkaf

Feb 2019 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

A music loving teen with OCD does everything she can to find her way back to her mother during the historic race riots in 1969 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this heart-pounding literary debut.

Melati Ahmad looks like your typical movie-going, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother’s death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

A trip to the movies after school turns into a nightmare when the city erupts into violent race riots between the Chinese and the Malay. When gangsters come into the theater and hold movie-goers hostage, Mel, a Malay, is saved by a Chinese woman, but has to leave her best friend behind to die.

On their journey through town, Mel sees for herself the devastation caused by the riots. In her village, a neighbor tells her that her mother, a nurse, was called in to help with the many bodies piling up at the hospital. Mel must survive on her own, with the help of a few kind strangers, until she finds her mother. But the djinn in her mind threatens her ability to cope.

Ratings and reviews

The story in itself is great enough, but Hanna Alkaf really let the words flow beautifully. Can't stop reading. And grateful to get a fitting closure to the tragedy. Brava Hanna Alkaf, defo looking forward to your next opus.

I read this novel for my English final project and I have to say, reading this was a journey. I can tell Melati is a well thought out character. You can see her development from the start to finish. The story touches on mental health and the historical tension riots in Malaysia. Although this is historical fiction, this book was suspenseful and impactful. I couldn't put it down! I rate this novel 5 stars and would recommend it.

It is amazing

About the author

Hanna Alkaf is the author of The Weight of Our Sky, Queen of the Tiles, The Girl and the Ghost, Hamra and the Jungle of Memories, and The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s, as well as coeditor of the young adult anthology The Grimoire of Grave Fates. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and has spent most of her life working with words, both in fiction and nonfiction. She lives in Kuala Lumpur with her family.