Young and naïve Ah Tat dreams of escaping the rural life of his kampung home on the banks of the Klang River. For him, education is the path towards success and a better tomorrow.

His cousin Kin Chew, or KC, has similar desires, but finds himself drawn to the more colourful life of the local triads.

After a long period of estrangement, their lives are entwined again in Kuala Lumpur, a city that skillfully conceals simmering ethnic and class tensions beneath a glossy facade of wealth and development.

Thus, Ah Tat and KC find themselves embroiled in a vicious rivalry for wealth, status, and even love. And if that isn’t bad enough, a strange weather event in the city might complicate matters…

Published by Penguin Random House Southeast Asia, “The Snow in Kuala Lumpur” is a harrowing tale of frayed family ties and the complexities of inequality, set across the backdrop of our nation as it progresses from the turbulent 1960s to the momentous ’90s.

Author Daryl Lim told FMT he had long thought about writing a tale of two boys who drift apart due to forces beyond their control. “There is a nugget of tragedy there, which is always good for a story,” the 39-year-old said in an email interview.

Born in Kuala Lumpur, Lim migrated to Sydney, Australia, with his extended family when he was four. He now works as a part-time pharmacist, and lives with his wife, 18-month-old son, and two sleepy cats.

Lim had been drawn to writing after going through a difficult period in his mid-20s. Novels, he said, became a source of solace for him.

“I admired the way certain writers used fiction to make the world more intelligible and bearable. It was instinctive for me to try and mimic them,” he added.

Lim’s writing has been published in “Peril”, an Asian-Australian online culture magazine. He was also on the shortlist for the Varuna House writing fellowship, and was a recipient of a Writing NSW mentorship.

Some of his favourite books are Kazuo Ishiguro’s ”A Pale View of Hills”, Paul Bowles’ “The Sheltering Sky”, and “Empire Of The Sun” by J G Ballard. “The Snow in Kuala Lumpur” is Lim’s debut novel.

The narrative goes through many major events in Malaysian history, several of which happened before he was even born. Research was, therefore, important: the author tacked a map and photographs of 1960s KL to his wall to craft his sprawling plot.

Also helpful were the nuanced memoirs of the late author and journalist Rehman Rashid, as well as Lim’s own father, who proved to be a font of information.

“He talks a lot,” Lim said of his dad. “The novel’s sense of time and place probably comes from him and his personal recollections. I’ve found that many Malaysians are quite nostalgic in this way, so it’s often a matter of getting in the right setting and prodding them a little.”

Elaborating on his process, he said he found writing the narrator to be particularly enjoyable, as Ah Tat was basically a “warped version” of himself.

“It’s strangely liberating to put all your faults on paper and blow them up in a hyperbolic way. I also enjoyed writing KC, who is the protagonist’s foil – aloof, daring, violent, and streetwise… obviously none of the qualities I possess, as I hide behind a keyboard all day,” he quipped.

The most challenging part, Lim said, were the chapters that dealt with the May 13, 1969 riots.

“Firstly, because there is always the danger of misinformation when researching something like that. But more importantly, it was hard because real people experienced real tragedy in those riots.

“To represent something like that, especially when writing in the first person, is venturing into morally grey territory. What gives me the right to talk about it? I have no defensible answer for that.

“The most I can say is that my attempt was in good faith,” he said.

Those who enjoy Lim’s book will be pleased to know the author is now working on another novel, also set in old Malaya.

“Writer’s superstition dictates I don’t talk about it until it actually becomes something substantial. Plus, I am a very slow writer. But I hope anyone who likes ‘The Snow in Kuala Lumpur’ will keep an eye out for it.”

‘The Snow in Kuala Lumpur’ is available from all major bookstores.