Dear reader,

The story was born out of the countless hours of Google and YouTube searches on historical developments in various areas, the regular East Asian music hopping, and all the beautiful stories that tore my skin apart to seam themselves in my insides.

Jose Bergamin once said, "The novel is born of disillusionment; the poem, of despair." This historical novella, I believe, is born out of a little bit of both. The early twentieth century was a time when humanity faced one crisis after another. Hate and violence multiplied to deter faith and value systems.

But amid destruction, too, a flower can bloom, and spring will blossom throughout. This is one such story of hope against all hope. The main leads have secrets dipped in the murky waters of love, trauma, responsibility, and patriotism. But what happens when they happen to begin trading those secrets? Read and find out. Insert winks here, please.

The story has triggering content, including violence, assault, explicit language, abuse, harassment, death, depiction of starvation and dehydration, child abuse, mutilation, alcoholism and drugs. Kindly DO NOT read the story if any of the above-mentioned triggers are not for you.
Chapters with triggering content will have a warning at the beginning. Please read with caution because your mental health means everything <3

I hope that by the end of the story, you realise each one of us, in our own way, holds the potential to ease human suffering.

With love,
𓍯Gulaab𓍯

NOTE:

(1) The story is a submission for ONC 2025. Prompts utilised:
a. Prompt number 31.
Next time, ask yourself if your integrity can withstand the truth.
b. Prompt number 110.
  20 days of freedom.
c. Prompt number 126.
  >>Because you're you, and I'm me, and we just don't fit.<< -Idea of You, Book by Robinne Lee

(2) The expected length of the novella is 30-40k words, which will be realised in a span of 20-25 chapters.

(3) There are two playlists available for the book because, let's not pretend, I'm just a sucker for city pop and the 40s. If you love these, then please let me know.

(4) I have used several historical references, but there are multiple tweaks in the story. Thus, it is historically inaccurate. So, please note that it is fictional.

BONUS NOTE:

Marionette theatre gained popularity during this time, and Burmese Marionettes were the most popular theatre trope of the period. Marionette refers to puppet theatre and the name of the novel comes from the fact that each of the characters is someone's puppet, sometimes even their own desires and greed.

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