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Scientist’s thriller dubbed ‘literary event’ of the year

KUALA LUMPUR — Scientist-turned-author Felicia Yap’s first novel is still eight months away from hitting the shelves, but the frenzied auction for the thriller, titled Yesterday, has led to the book and its writer being touted as one of the literary world’s sensations of the year.

Felicia Yap's novel Yesterday (inset) has already been lauded as one of the top reads of 2017 - and it's not even published yet. Photo: Felicia Yap's Twitter page

Felicia Yap's novel Yesterday (inset) has already been lauded as one of the top reads of 2017 - and it's not even published yet. Photo: Felicia Yap's Twitter page

KUALA LUMPUR — Scientist-turned-author Felicia Yap’s first novel is still eight months away from hitting the shelves, but the frenzied auction for the thriller, titled Yesterday, has led to the book and its writer being touted as one of the literary world’s sensations of the year.

British newspaper The Observer has already named Yap among the “rising stars of 2017”, prompted by the race to publish the novel that landed the KL-born author with a six-figure deal.

The final auction had three publishers battling it out, before Headline Publishing Group’s Alex Clarke snapped up the rights for the new imprint.

But even before then, Yap’s work — which took her 15 months to write — saw eight agents fighting to represent it.

The heated battle also moved Newsweek to declare the novel by the Faber Academy writing school alumnus to be one of 2017’s literary event, months ahead of its scheduled debut in August.

In the interview with The Observer, Yap said she was born to a banker and grew up in a “tiny house” in Kuala Lumpur, and she remembered affectionately her father’s “old, dusty brown” Datsun — before studying biochemistry at Imperial College London.

She then became a researcher at European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, and had dabbled in history at Cambridge, and journalism before trying her hands at writing the book that netted a six-figure sum from an auction for its publishing rights.

When asked by The Observer about her many lives, Yap, 35, said she is happiest when writing novels.

“I felt euphoric and anxious,” Yap was quoted saying as she related waiting in front of her computer for news from the auction for her title.

According to Yap, the idea for the high-concept novel surfaced when she was on her way to a ballroom dancing class: “How do you solve a murder when you can only remember yesterday?”

In the novel, human memory stops working after the age of 18, and most people can only remember the past 24 hours and keep electronic diaries to remind them of what they did and felt.

“(It) holds up a mirror to how we make memories, what we choose to forget, what we choose to believe,” Yap told Newsweek.

Yap is currently working on a prequel to Yesterday, and admitted that there is “keen and ongoing” competition for the film rights. MALAY MAIL ONLINE

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