Margaret Rau

Reverend Brooks leads his small Iowa town in a contest to stop smoking for a month. But some tobacco executives don't want them to win, and try everything they can to make them smoke. If townspeople don't go nuts from wanting a cigarette, or kill each other from irritation and frustration, they will win a huge prize.

In 1970, when the depths of racial divide still scarred Malaysian society – a young Malay man finds himself needing to return to his village in Kedah because his father is dying – and the only vehicle available for him to ride is driven by a middle-aged Chinese man. A journey from Kuala Lumpur to Alor Setar on 14 May 1970, driven by an elderly Chinese man desperately in need of money to pay for his mother's medical treatment, is also taken by a young Malay nationalist leader who is forced to return to his village. What will happen over the course of more than 350km?