The Freedom of Choice

On a wet, gloomy Monday morning in March 2004, Rachel Thomas receives a letter from a private investigator that throws her comfortable, middle-class lifestyle into chaos. She is confronted with a deeply guarded secret from her past. Traumatic events that she has kept buried for fourteen years come back to haunt her and she must now find the courage to make a choice that may disrupt and destroy her marriage. Will she make the right choice?

Set against the backdrop of modern day Kuala Lumpur, the novel moves seamlessly between the past and the present. The story is told in parallel through the eyes of Rachel Thomas, the young mother, and Rohan Mahendran, the private investigator assigned to find her. It describes how the different races interact with one another and underscores how racial and religious differences influence the choices people make in life.

In addition, the novel seeks to address two very important social issues - adoption and organ transplantation in the Malaysian setting. David, a thirteen-year-old boy, was given up for adoption as a newborn baby. Now, he has end-stage renal failure and needs an urgent kidney transplant. Will his parents be able to find a donor in time? Ultimately, the novel is about one woman's quest to exercise her Freedom of Choice.