A Singaporean goes on the run in Yu-Mei Balasingamchow’s Names Have Been Changed

SINGAPORE – Growing up mixed-race with a name that sticks out in Singapore, author Yu-Mei Balasingamchow has always been obsessed with names. It is why the protagonist of her debut novel, Names Have Been Changed, is a wanted Singaporean woman who dons and discards several aliases as she goes on the run.

“When they called me in hospital waiting rooms, they used to look at my name and be puzzled by what to say – that’s how I knew they were about to call me,” says Boston-based Balasingamchow, a former civil servant and teacher in her 50s.