Tan Twan Eng joined Robert Kirkwood of Insight Radio to talk about his Booker shortlisted title The garden of evening mists, his second novel. This interview took place before the announcement of the winner.
Tell us about 'The garden of evening mists'.
The story is about Teoh Yun Ling, who is in her mid-60s when she decides to take early retirement for health reasons from the bench as she is a supreme court judge. She goes back to The garden of evening mists; a Japanese garden in the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia. She has to go back to this garden, which is called Yugiri in Japanese, because about 40 years ago she was there as a prisoner of war of the Japanese. Her goal then, was to ask the former gardener of the Emperor of Japan to build and design a memorial garden for her sister who died in the camp. That is the gist of the novel.
Does Yugiri, the Japanese garden actually exist?
Not in Cameron Highlands, it's a combination of various Japanese gardens I've visited over the past few years and I've combined them together in this imaginary place.
Your last novel was from a young male's character point of view. How difficult was it to write this from an older female perspective?
I thought it would be daunting at first because it's a different character but actually in the end I saw Yun Ling as not a woman, not a man, not young or old but just a human being with all our fears and hopes and anxieties and that's how I wrote her.
Did you have personal or political motivation for choosing the subject matter?
I would say it was more of a personal motive because I am interested in history and interested in that period of Malaysian history, so it felt natural to write about that period.
You're from Malay heritage but you live in South Africa. Where do you feel most at home?
Malaysia. At heart I will always be Malaysian regardless of where I live or where I go.
You've written two books one of which has been long listed, the other has been shortlisted. What's your magic formula?
There's no magic formula, just hard work. I have to force myself to sit down at my desk for hours and hours a day. I treat it as an office job basically because working from home it's very easy to slide into being sloppy or complacent. I have fixed times for working and I make sure I am properly dressed. I never ever write in my pyjamas because I think that's the start of a slippery slope. So I treat it as an office job.
You left a very good job to write 'The gift of rain'. When you left your job had you started writing it?
No. I left my job because I wanted to do a Masters in Shipping Law. I chose the University of Cape Town because I have friends in Cape Town and they said come over here and do it here. While I was doing my Masters I had a lot of time on my hands and I told myself this is my golden opportunity to write a book.
Both your books 'The gift of rain' and 'The garden of evening mist' are historical novels. How much is research and how much is writing?
Well it's quite almost equal. I do a lot of research but when I start writing I try to forget everything that I have researched and just write down the story. It's interesting because I don't see my books as historical novels, I see them as quite contemporary in style. I find it odd that these books are called historical fiction and yet novels Atonement or Midnight's children are never called historical fiction. That's always struck me as strange.
Being shortlisted certainly attracts attention to your book. Are you enjoying the extra work?
Imagine how much worse it would be if nobody was interested! I'm enjoying it. It's tough running from place to place but I'm not complaining, I'm very lucky.
For the fourth year running RNIB is delighted to work alongside the Man Booker prize, producing all six shortlisted novels in accessible formats before the announcement of the winner.