Heidi Shamsuddin and The Case of The House At No. 74

There is a brand new book coming up in the popular The Door Under the Stairs series! Written by Heidi Shamsuddin, this series describes the adventures of three children, Joe, Emil and Hanna, who travel back in time through a secret door under the stairs that they discover in school. They meet famous personalities from Malaysia's history and help ensure history stays its course. In the first book, the three children find the National Anthem for the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman. In the second book, they meet the famous P. Ramlee and help him re-discover his inspiration. In the third book, they encourage Mokhtar Dahari to pursue his love for football.

Heidi Shamsuddin

So who will the children meet next in the The Case of the House at No. 74, the fourth book in the series? The answer is Sybil Kathigasu! Sybil was a nurse who supported the resistance during World War  2. She was the only Malaysian woman to be ever awarded with the George Medal for bravery. We asked Heidi to share her thoughts on this exciting new book.

Q1: What made you decide to write about Sybil Kathigasu?

Because she's one cool lady. I read her memoir and was bowled over at the things she achieved in her short life. I was also surprised that not many people know about her and I wanted to fix that. So I wrote a story about Sybil Kathigasu.

Q2: How much research did you do to write this book?

Quite a lot but thankfully everything was in her memoir (which is called 'No Dram of Mercy'). I also took a trip to Papan with my family to have a look at her house at No. 74, which is the title of this book. It was really fun. My kids and I snuck around her house and pretended to be rebels who used to knock on her back door!

The house at No. 74 where Sybil lived with her family

The children is found by the rebels

Dinner with the Kathigasu family

Q3: Where do you like to work?

I'm not one of those writers who can work in cafes and with other people.I only really like to work alone at home, in my special writing den, with the door shut and the curtains drawn. Yes, I like to write alone in the dark...

Q4: What are you working on now?

Lots and lots of things. The next Door Under the Stairs book will be about how tin was discovered in Perak by... elephants! I will also have a new picture book out called 'Chickaboo the Ostrich'. This book was inspired by the ostrich who was found running down the Federal Highway back in June this year and it's going to be illustrated by the great Lim Lay Koon! I can't wait for that one.

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Preorder The Case of The House At No. 74 now at a SPECIAL preorder price and get great savings as well as a free notebook! The book will be available for delivery from 15th October.