By Gemma L.
How fun would it be to have the main character falling in love with two versions of the same man?
Gemma: Your debut novel, The Girl With No Reflection, is a historical fantasy set in ancient China, and features a story about a girl who discovers a parallel world. What made you want to write a story with these elements?
Keshe: Growing up, I never read any fantasy books featuring main characters who looked like me. So, when I initially set out to write a book, I knew I wanted it to be rooted in Chinese mythology. In fact, the initial inspiration—a short story by Jorge Luis Borges called Fauna of Mirrors—was said to have originated in Chinese folklore. However, its true origins remain unknown, so it made sense to weave even more Chinese culture into the story. To ‘reclaim’ it, if you will.
I ended up incorporating elements of the Chang’e and Hou Yi (Moon Goddess and Archer) myth, the carp at the Dragon gate story, as well as a whole array of Chinese mythological creatures. Added to that, I drew inspiration from various eras of Imperial Chinese history. However, since this is second world fantasy, I didn’t want to make it a direct analogy to Chinese history. Instead, I mixed and matched different eras—both modern and historical.
Gemma: Your book is unique in the sense that your main character meets her true love in the form of the parallel version of her husband, who has no affection for her. I thought this concept was so different and was enthralled at how this all unraveled. How did this idea come together for you?
Keshe: It might not be the most popular trope these days, but I personally love a good love triangle! When I came up with the concept of the mirror world, I thought: how fun would it be to have the main character falling in love with two versions of the same man? I tried to imagine myself in her place, and understand how discombobulating it would be to interact with two love interests who looked identical, but were complete opposites in terms of personality.
Gemma: Your main character, Ying, is highly sheltered and married off to a prince who is very distant towards her. This makes it difficult for her to adapt to her new royal life, and she begins to make unexpected choices. Who is Ying to you, and how does she grow as a character?
Keshe: Ying Yue grew up very sheltered; a ‘big fish in a small pond’ so to speak! I wanted her to have to work to find her place over the course of the novel. When she travels to the capital and marries into the royal family, she has to find her footing in a larger and more complex societal structure.
She is kind-hearted, brave, and bold—but can also be stubborn, impulsive, and deeply unaware of her privilege. I wanted her to be a flawed character who, at times, makes poor decisions that eventually help her to grow. In the beginning, she’s very headstrong and wants to do everything alone, which changes slowly as events unfold.
When she discovers the mirror world, she must grapple with the duality of herself versus her reflection, realizing that she and her mirror self are completely different people, with separate wants and desires. For once, she’s not the centre of her own story—and that’s tough for her to accept, at first.
I’ve always been scared of mirrors, especially in the dark, so this was such a horrifying concept that I just knew I had to write about it!
Gemma: You’ve created a whole other world in this story, the mirror world where our reflections have their own lives and personality, but are ultimately still bound to our real selves. How did you come up with this concept and bring it to life?
Keshe: As mentioned earlier, I was initially inspired by a Borges story that I read late one night while looking for stories about mirrors. The story is about mirror people who are bound inside the mirrors and forced to mimic humans, who one day decide to revolt and stream out of the mirrors to attack and replace us. I’ve always been scared of mirrors, especially in the dark, so this was such a horrifying concept that I just knew I had to write about it!
Expanding it into a full-length novel concept took a bit of work. Obviously, the actual setting was heavily inspired by Imperial China. I researched a lot into various dynasties, though I used enough creative licence that it was not a direct portrayal of any one particular era. Worldbuilding was fun, honestly, because I only had to world-build once (lol). That’s because the two worlds appear identical except for some extra monsters here and there.
Gemma: Additionally, both worlds are linked together and have a history that has been forgotten. How did you create and build these worlds in your book? Was there any inspiration behind this?
Keshe: While the original Borges story had a brief bit about the backstory, the majority of the world’s histories were made up by me!
Gemma: There is a lot of romance between Ying and the mirror prince! She falls in love with the reflection of her husband, who is wildly different from the real prince, and this pushes the story in motion. Why did you make Ying’s true love difficult to attain?
Keshe: Honestly, when I think back to myself as a teen, I was not very judicious about who I chose to give my love to! I tended to trust everyone who was nice to me, and definitely got myself into some not-so-great situations because of that.
I felt that, in writing for a teen audience, it was very important to me that I show the nuances of relationships—that something that seems fairy-tale perfect, might not necessarily be so. Ying is betrothed to a prince who is perfect on paper. She falls in love with the mirror version, who is kind and considerate. But is that the whole truth? I wanted to interrogate the idea of perception versus reality, and how what we think of someone on the surface might not actually reflect (ha ha) who they truly are as a person.
I definitely wanted to play with the idea of perceptions, and what it really means to be human.
Gemma: I feel like there is commentary about our real selves and what we see in our reflections – perhaps a question about who we are versus how we present ourselves to others? Is this thinking correct, or did you have other intentions? What were you looking to explore with Ying’s ability to traverse worlds and the unexpected things she discovers?
Keshe: Yes – you are very perceptive! The initial question I wanted to ask was: are there really monsters in the mirror? Or are they just reflections of ourselves? I definitely wanted to play with the idea of perceptions, and what it really means to be human.
That is, I wanted to use mirrors as a metaphor, that can be used to highlight the best—and worst—parts of humanity. I actually think it was hard to fully explore the themes I wanted to in one book, but I have plenty of other ideas! Hopefully these will one day make it into another book: either a sequel, or a prequel, or another standalone set in the same world.
Gemma: What did you want readers to take away from this book?
Keshe: Mostly, to be honest, I just hope they have a good time!
I get to explore what my culture and ethnicity mean to me, and work through the complicated feelings I have regarding those.
Gemma: We’d like to hear more about yourself as well! You were born in Malaysia and moved to Australia as a child. As an Asian woman in a predominantly Western country, what was that experience growing up like for you?
Keshe: The city in which I live, Melbourne, is super multi-cultural. That being said I grew up in a very WASP-ish area [White Anglo-Saxon Protestant]. Often I was the only non-white kid in my class. As a child, I carried a lot of shame around being ‘different’, which was hard to deal with.
I dealt with occasional overt racism, of course, but more often it was subtle microaggressions that I only recognised in retrospect, once I became an adult! Writing has been hugely healing, actually—in both my novels and my short fiction, I get to explore what my culture and ethnicity mean to me, and work through the complicated feelings I have regarding those.
Gemma: Do you feel like your experiences as a Malaysian-Australian author give you a unique perspective that enriches your writing? Can you tell us about some moments where your background shines through?
Keshe: Apart from growing up hearing the stories and myths that I put into my books, I also think being POC, and an immigrant, gave me a different perspective of what it feels like to be an outsider. Most of my main characters are outsiders in some sense—for Ying Yue, she’s privileged, but she has to integrate into a new family who don’t necessarily value her as a person. In my next YA fantasy, my main character is even more of an outsider, ha!
Gemma: This is your debut novel and became a #1 Sunday Times bestseller that received much praise. What has this experience been like for you?
Keshe: To be honest, it’s been really strange, because I think some of the narrative decisions I made have been extremely polarising! I’ve enjoyed the process though, and hitting the Sunday Times list was a buzz. The other weird thing about publishing a book is that since traditional publishing timelines are SO LONG, by the time a book comes out, most authors have already moved onto the next project, or even the project after! For me, I’ve written two books since The Girl With No Reflection, so although this book is new for readers, for me it is very old!!
Gemma: Aside from being a writer, you are also a veterinarian. These two careers certainly couldn’t be more different. Has there been a career change for you, or do you juggle both? What has it been like to start your author journey?
Keshe: There’s definitely been a career change in the past few years! I slowly moved away from clinical work over a few years, and in 2023, became a full-time author. I still do some consultancy work for various companies and I’m currently the secretary of the feline chapter in Australia, so I still have lots of ties to the industry.
I actually wrote an adult fantasy book incorporating my veterinary knowledge recently. I may have news to share about it soon, but I can tell you that it was so much fun combining my two areas of expertise!
Gemma: You have also won a number of literary prizes over the last few years! Do you have any advice for those who want to become authors?
Keshe: My main advice is to read a lot, especially in your genre. And find a group of supportive writers. It is so important to have a sounding board for advice, critiques, commiserations, and—the best part of all—celebration!
Gemma: Your next book, For No Mortal Creatures, features ghosts that have ghosts! What can you tell us about it?
Keshe: It’s based on the idea that ghosts can die and become ghosts of ghosts, and ghosts of ghosts can die and become ghosts of ghosts of ghosts… That is, the afterlife is multi-layered, and no one knows how deep it goes!
My main character, Jia Yi, has to delve deeper and deeper into death to rescue her dead grandmother, as well as take revenge on the ghost of the boy who once betrayed her.
It, too, has a love triangle—but once again it’s got a bit of a twist! In this one, the love interests are a prince from a rival kingdom… And a ghost (who the main character can’t touch, regardless of whether she wants to kiss him, or slap him!)
Gemma: Is there anything else you’d like to write about in the near future? What else can we expect from you?
Keshe: The book I mentioned earlier is an academic rivals-to-lovers story set in a magical veterinary school that treats witches’ familiars and mythological creatures. It’s set in an alternate London and is quite different in tone from my YA work. It’s funny and sexy and it’s dual POV—so there’s A LOT of pining.
Gemma: Last question: Can you tease our readers with a line from The Girl With No Reflection?
Keshe: This is one of my favourite lines:
“Those dark hours, full of soft touches and whispered words, were as sweet and as melancholy as a breeze on a still lake; as moonlight spilling onto fresh snow; as the first note sung by a lone bird to greet a breaking dawn.”
