Two years ago, while isolated in a room for a couple of months due to a health issue, newcomer author Puteri Eleni Megat Osman began reflecting on how Malaysian youths were growing up without homegrown role models to inspire them.
“When I was younger, I looked up to Kim Possible – she was good at everything, from her studies and cheerleading to saving the world,” says Puteri, 35, recalling a bookish childhood in the 1990s.
“Now I have two young kids, and as I think about them growing older, I realise there aren’t many role models for young adults, even though they need them. So I thought – why not create one?” she adds.
And that was how Mona Ali, the protagonist of Puteri’s debut young adult novel Mona Ali Mysteries: The Case Of The Star Prefect was born.
A student of Sekolah Menengah Elit Tunku Aaila, a premier boarding school shaping Malaysia’s brightest young minds into future luminaries, Mona is focused on surviving its cut-throat environment – until one of her friends is suddenly found dead in the school.
Initially ruled a suicide, Mona senses something isn’t quite right and begins digging into what happened before the incident. In doing so, she sets off a domino effect, uncovering a trail of strange clues that suggest a killer may be lurking among them.
The first book in this Mona Ali series was written during stretches of boredom and deep introspection while Puteri was on bed rest.
Writing at 5am
As Mother’s Day arrives, Puteri reflects on balancing family demands with pursuing a passion, tempered by a dose of practicality.
Now back at a full-time job in the corporate legal sector and raising two energetic children, Puteri fits writing into the margins of her life – with patience, and not much sleep.
Writing becomes a way for her to find herself again – and she has only a small window to get it done.
“I’m a 5am girlie, so I write before my kids wake up and before my meetings and work day start. Then I go to work and review agreements, and when I come home, I have to prevent a mini war from breaking out between my son and daughter when they fight,” says Puteri with a laugh.
But it demands plenty of inner discipline, and she is up to the task.
“It’s exhausting, but at the end of the day, after cuddling with the kids and putting them to bed, I’m always grateful to be living a fulfilling life doing meaningful things. I think it’s a privilege,” she adds.
Questions of worth
The fun part has been mapping out her book. With her main character in place, Puteri surrounds Mona with an equally colourful cast. Like any amateur sleuth, Mona doesn’t work alone, relying on a group of friends as she investigates the case.
There’s Deena, her best friend, Mona’s boyfriend Joshua, Deena’s boyfriend Darren and even Izuan, a new student with an interesting past.
“Now, Kim Possible was arguably perfect, but for Mona and her friends, I didn’t want them to be perfect. I wanted them to be relatable and more realistic, so in the book, each one of them is struggling with their own personal issues,” says Puteri.
“Despite that, they’re curious, brave, hardworking and smart – these are the characteristics that help them overcome the challenges they encounter and push back against the systems that try to measure a person’s value only through material things like their class ranking or how rich their family is,” she adds.
Published by Gerakbudaya’s new fiction imprint Cherita Books, Mona Ali Mysteries follows this group outside the classroom, as Puteri places them in situations that challenge their identity and force them to confront wider existential questions about coming of age.
A grain of truth
The stories and characters featured in this debut Mona Ali Mysteries (and future books in the series) are of course fictional, but there’s perhaps a grain of truth in them, if you look closely.
Based in Kuala Lumpur, Puteri grew up in Bandar Sri Damansara and is an alumna of Universiti Malaya and the London School of Economics (LSE). A former Perdana Fellow in the Prime Minister’s Office and Khazanah Global Scholar, she draws on firsthand experience of high-stakes academic environments reflected in her book.
“I was a scholarship student surrounded by T20 kids, and the level of competitiveness and how to deal with so much pressure can be quite shocking. So a lot of the things included in the book are inspired by real life – things that I’ve heard about, or experienced myself,” she says.
Currently, Puteri is working on the second book and has outlined up to book three of the series, though she already has a general direction planned for future instalments.
“In the first book, Mona discovers her natural skills and inclination towards solving mysteries. As the series progresses, the topics covered in the books will get more and more serious. For example, in the second book, it’s going to centre around nepotism, and the third book is going to be about how the general public views overachievers,” she reveals.
Mystery and crime
Though she is currently vice president of the legal department at a GLC, Puteri has always harboured a love of reading and writing.
“Writing has always been like how I express and process my emotions since I was young. I have tonnes of diaries. I also wrote so many poems and articles for the school magazines,” she says.
In particular, Puteri finds that she’s always been drawn to stories with an element of mystery and crime.
“I think it’s because I’m fascinated by how people rarely show their true selves, and how yes, there are crimes of passion, but there could also be many underlying causes and motives, such as social issues or mental health issues. It’s never really a straightforward thing, so I like digging deeper beneath the surface, because nothing is as it seems.”
In a way, the Mona Ali series doubles as a homage to the books Puteri grew up on, especially RL Stine’s Fear Street series – those teen thrillers that made everyday school corridors feel a little more dangerous, and ordinary friendships suddenly charged with suspense.
“I love the way he writes and honestly, it’s shaped so much of my own writing style. I don’t think I’ll ever write as well as him, but I try to honour him with how I’ve written the Mona Ali series. It’s a nostalgic hat-tip to the books I grew up reading,” she concludes.
