On Walking And Writing

Yangsze Choo @yschooauthor is a fourth-generation Malaysian who lives in California. She worked various corporate jobs before writing her first novel, The Ghost Bride, which is being turned into a Netflix series. Her second novel, The Night Tiger, is out now.

Many years ago, I went for a walk beside an inlet of sea in Sweden with my dad. It was bitterly cold. So cold that the snow wouldn’t pack into snowballs because the temperature was too low for it to melt and cling together. Instead, it trickled through my gloved hands like soft powder. And as we walked, I heard a faint ringing chime, like clear bells. “That’s the ice,” said my father. Part of the sea had frozen, then broken up again into chunks. Driven by the wind and currents, the sea ice was ringing unceasingly against the frozen shores. We stood and listened for a long time. I wondered if I would ever hear that sound again. It haunted my dreams, just as the memory of that crisp snowy walk did.