by Thomas Keneally - £8.99 Hodder & Stoughton (2015)
paperback
ISBN 13: 9781444781274 | ISBN 10: 1444781278
A dramatic and fascinating novel based on a notorious breakout by Japanese prisoners from an Australian POW camp in 1944, encapsulating the impact of war on ordinary lives.
On the edge of a small Australian town, far from the battlefields of the Second World War, a camp holds thousands of Japanese, Italian and Korean prisoners of war. The locals are unsure how to treat the 'enemy', though Alice Herman, whose young husband is himself a prisoner in Europe, becomes drawn to the Italian soldier sent to work on her father-in-law's farm. The camp commander and his deputy, each concealing a troubled private life, are disunited. And both fatally misread their Japanese captives, who burn with shame at being taken alive. The stage is set for a clash of cultures that has explosive, far-reaching consequences.
(Price & availability last checked: March 2015)
In booklists: Writers by Surname - K, World Fiction - Australia, World War II, Historical Fiction, Peace and War in Fiction,
In categories: Fiction, History & Biography, Peace & Human Rights,
© News From Nowhere Co-operative Ltd IP24524R 2004-2024 | Privacy policy | Contact | return to top of page