The Chennai-based documentary film-maker, Kombai S. Anwar, first drew our attention to P. Singaram's novel Kadalukku Appaal. As Areca Books has been publishing books on the cultural heritage and social history of Penang, this suggestion piqued our interest. Beyond The Sea would be our first fiction title. The late author is now recognized as a pioneer of the modern Tamil novel; his works are now seeing a renewed interest in India. As a young man, P. Singaram had lived in Penang and Medan in the 1940s, and thus had a deep insight into the Tamil and Chettiar diaspora. He spent time in the Penang Library, where he was inspired by the works of Ernest Hemingway.

Kadalukku Appaal / Beyond the Sea is a short novel set in Penang. Chelliah, the hero of the novel, finds his life and job as a moneylender disrupted by the Japanese Occupation of Malaya. Like many young men, he joins the Indian National Army. At the end of the war, he hopes to return to his previous life and marry his childhood sweetheart, but finds that the war and army life have changed him. The candid dialogues contain Tamil transliterations of Malay, Chinese, English, Japanese, and Dutch words, illustrating Penang's multicultural milieu. The seaport and streets scenes of George Town are described with first-hand familiarity.

With the rediscovery of this novel, Areca Books took up the challenge of publishing the English translation. The novel was translated from Tamil by the late Dr R. Karthigesu, former Professor of Mass Communication at USM, and himself an esteemed literary figure writing in Tamil. The foreword is written by Sunil Amrith, Professor of South Asian Studies, at Harvard University and author of Crossing the Bay of Bengal: The Furies of Nature and the Fortunes of Migrants. Sunil had high praise for the novel and its transliteration:

"P. Singaram’s Beyond the Sea is a classic of modern Tamil literature, and one of the few Tamil novels of its era to be set completely in Southeast Asia. R. Karthigesu’s excellent translation brings this work to an English-speaking audience for the very first time. The novel’s gripping wartime plot and its evocative scenes of everyday life in Penang continue to compel the attention. This beautiful new edition by Areca Books will be of interest to general readers and scholars alike."

Previously, we had raised support for a bilingual title, Sejarah Bergambar Seberang Perai /Pictorial History of Province Wellesley, through mystartr.com. The crowdfunding initiative helped us in pre-marketing, gauging the public interest in the book, and of course, in raising funds for the publication.

We are timing the crowdfunding for Beyond The Sea for the pre-Deepavali period, and plan to print it immediately after the crowdfunding period ends. The book is in the final stage of editing, and awaiting your valuable contribution for publication.

We are planning to organise the book launch in a historic shophouse in George Town with a unique and exclusive event!