Singaporean author Kasan Goh has released his debut novel, *Billy, Seetoh & Co*, a Cubist-inspired narrative drawing from his experiences as a student squatting in London in the 1980s and 1990s. The book, published by Landmark Books and available from October 5, traces more than three decades in the making and reflects Goh’s attempts to chart the chaotic, precarious life of a group of transient youth navigating the fringes of society.

Now 63 and based in the United Kingdom, Goh began writing the novel around 1996 after returning to Singapore amid family upheaval. His father, the late Goh Poh Seng, a respected author and doctor, and his mother, editor Margaret Joyce, had emigrated to Canada following the forced closure of his father’s music venue, Rainbow Lounge. The closure came amidst controversy including a mass rock concert featuring David Bowie and an “indecent” onstage remark by a local band, leading to substantial fallout for the family. This period of turmoil and moral crackdown forms part of the emotional undercurrent in Goh’s work.

The novel’s title reflects the sprawling cast of characters who inhabit it — an ever-changing ensemble representing the fluidity and uncertainty of squatter life in London’s Brixton and North Peckham districts. Goh resisted publisher Landmark’s urging to shorten the title or reduce the number of characters, asserting that the broad scope was essential to capturing the texture of the experience. During his time in London, where he attended the Architectural Association School of Architecture, Goh lived alongside dozens of others in a single apartment over two years, experiences that inform the novel’s portrayal of community and instability.

Goh describes squatting as both a lifestyle choice and a survival tactic, uniting diverse groups from marginalized individuals to art students and punks. The novel reflects the constant tension between possibility and precarity, with threats of eviction and burglary ever-present. Structurally, the book employs shifting perspectives and non-linear storytelling, evoking comparisons to American authors Paul Auster and Bret Easton Ellis and China’s Sixth Generation filmmakers. Goh credits classical Chinese literature, specifically Cao Xueqin’s *Dream of the Red Chamber*, as an influence for blending poetic, tragic, and mythic elements into a modern narrative framework.

The novel also channels the fervor and political ferment of the 1980s, notably capturing the impact of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests on young activists abroad. Goh recalls strong emotional responses to the events while living in London and contrasting international perspectives with those he encountered back in Singapore, where the protests were oft-dismissed.

Beyond its literary ambitions, *Billy, Seetoh & Co* serves as a personal reckoning. Goh acknowledges that writing the novel involved confronting fractured friendships and unresolved anger with people from his past. While the fictional family dynamics differ from his own, the book touches on themes of generational conflict and estrangement that remain for future exploration.

For much of his early writing career, Goh avoided public exposure, wary of comparisons to his father. His other works include the 1995 short story and poetry collection *H2O*. He describes his creative process as akin to architectural collage—assembling disparate elements to form a cohesive whole. He is presently preparing a new triptych novel, *Diaspura*, which will include fictional and memoir elements, and is anticipated for its revelations about his family and personal history.

*Billy, Seetoh & Co* marks Goh’s emergence as a distinct voice in Singaporean literature, one shaped by a cosmopolitan, postcolonial outlook. The novel presents a vivid portrait of a turbulent era and a generation’s search for meaning amid social and political upheaval.