The Flamboya Tree : Memories of a Family's War-Time Courage

by Clara Olink Kelly

“The Flamboya Tree is a fascinating story that will leave the reader informed about a missing piece of the World War II experience, and in awe of one family’s survival.”
—It is a well-known fact that war, any war, is senseless and degrading. When innocent people are brought into that war because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, it becomes incomprehensible. Java, 1942, was such a place and time, and we were those innocent people.”

Fifty years after the end of World War II, Clara Olink Kelly sat down to write a memoir that is both a fierce and enduring testament to a mother’s courage and a poignant record of an often overlooked chapter of the war.

As the fighting in the Pacific spread, four-year-old Clara Olink and her family found their tranquil, pampered lives on the beautiful island of Java torn apart by the invasion of Japanese troops. Clara’s father was taken away, forced to work on the Burma railroad. For Clara, her mother, and her two brothers, the younger one only six weeks old, an insistent knock on the door ended all hope of escaping internment in a concentration camp. For nearly four years, they endured starvation, filth-ridden living conditions, sickness, and the danger of violence from their prison guards. Clara credits her mother with their survival: Even in the most perilous of situations, Clara’s mother never compromised her beliefs, never admitted defeat, and never lost her courage. Her resilience sustained her three children through their frightening years in the camp.

Told through the eyes of a young Clara, who was eight at the end of her family’s ordeal, The Flamboya Tree portrays her mother’s tenacity, the power of hope and humor, and the buoyancy of a child’s spirit. A painting of a flamboya tree—a treasured possession of the family’s former life—miraculously survived the surprise searches by the often brutal Japanese soldiers and every last-minute flight. Just as her mother carried this painting through the years of imprisonment and the life that followed, so Clara carries her mother’s unvanquished spirit through all of her experiences and into the reader’s heart.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, History, World War II, Autobiography, War, Biography Memoir

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book at a library sale because the cover was so lovely, and the story sounded interesting. Little did I know how interesting this book would be, or how the cover actually factors into the story.

I LOVED this little memoir. I'm sorry that the new edition changed the cover and the subtitle. The new subtitle is: Memories of a Family's War-Time Courage. However, this book is an incredible portrait of an unforgettable mother. Really, it's a daughter's ode to her mother's courage, and I think the better subtitle reflects this wonderful honor Clara bestowed on her mother.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in women's issues, history, war, humanity, and memoirs of people who triumph over incredible odds. The bulk of the memoir takes place in a Japanese concentration camp during WWII, in Java. Olink's family is Dutch, and her mother and her three children are taken hostage for four years. It's one of the most harrowing four years I've ever read about. But how the family perseveres, with the help of the painting featured on the cover of the Flamboya Tree, is magical. You will never forget this mother.

This is a very special book, beautifully written, and one I hope more will pick up and read and take on in book clubs. Finding little gems like this makes me determined to search my library sales more carefully....

[Liralen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Note: Untagged spoilers below the fold.

August 1945, and most of the world was celebrating the end of the war. Not so the concentration camps. We knew nothing. (151)

Clara Olink Kelly was four when she and her mother and two brothers—one a bit older and the other only an infant—were put in a concentration camp. Her father was sent off to do hard physical labour, and they wouldn't see him until four years later, when they were released. Previously they had lived the privileged lives of white colonists on Java; Kelly's mother, in particular, had been raised with expectations of being served rather than serving. A photo near the beginning of the book shows, more directly than text can, her mother's background: taken in 1921, it shows Kelly's mother and her sisters and mother. They wear lace dresses and bows in their hair, stockings and pretty little shoes; it's the picture of upper-class whiteness in India, which is to say that the family had transplanted their ideals of European class to a country where so many had so little.

I say this not to take them to task for their colonialist background (that belongs somewhere other than a review of a memoir) but to illustrate, as Kelly intends, the gulf between her mother's background and the situation in which she found herself. I wrote this book as a tribute to my beloved mother, Says Kelly, who never gave up on her family and the ultimate struggle to survive. Though she battled daily to keep us fed and clean, I never heard her complain about or curse those who made our lives so miserable (199). And that's just what the book is: a tribute, and a beautiful one. Some of the titles reference 'a family's wartime courage', but the ones that reference 'a mother's wartime courage' seem more to the point. Probably there were hundreds, thousands of women (in concentration camps for the Dutch and for the Jews and for the Japanese and so on and so forth—why did/do so many countries imprison civilian-enemies this way?) who did just what Kelly's mother did—dug deep to find reserves of strength and street-smarts that they didn't know they had.

This works so well, I think, because Kelly is able to convey the difficulties of camp life for adults while staying true to her own childhood understanding of the camp. She was there from four to eight, young enough and long enough to forget the details of the outside world. To the children, for example, the monsoon season was more fun because there were always games to play; to the adult women in the camp, of course, monsoons made life more difficult.

The war ended, and eventually Kelly and her family were reunited with her father and temporarily housed in Bangkok while waiting for transport home to Holland. Here we see just how much things had fallen apart for the family. Conditions were better (and certainly safer) in Bangkok, but food and medicine were still inadequate, and the children were sometimes critically ill. Yet the wait for passage home was longer than they might have expected: I was an adult with grown children of my own when I learned the reason behind our extended stay in Bangkok. Most of our family members and friends who had been in camps like us were already back in Holland. ... [A business acquaintance] told our family there [in Holland] that he had seen our father visiting plantations all over Java, following up on leads to purchase tea, coffee, and other products for his business. My mother was used to his frequent and extended trips away from camp, but she hadn't realized that he had not yet applied for passage home. Ever the businessman, my father was more concerned with making deals than with fighting for those hard-to-acquire transportation passes for his family. (173–174)

How utterly sad. How does a family, a marriage, recover from that? Kelly makes few excuses for her father (she does note at the end that her parents later divorced and neither she nor her siblings stayed close enough with their father to inform him of things like weddings), but she is more forgiving of her grandmother, who was in Holland during the war. She's a wonderfully complex character, somebody who Does Not Understand why the children can't eat normally after years of semi-starvation and a very limited diet, who Does Not Understand why they are still afraid, who Does Not Understand why they don't like the Dutch food she prepares—yet who, Kelly says, cared deeply about their health and happiness and was, through listening and encouraging them to talk about their experiences, instrumental in helping them heal emotionally from their experience in the camp.

Close to five stars. As a war/concentration-camp memoir, it's lovely; as a tribute to a strong mother, it's powerful.

[Jeanette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This precious memoir I was going to give 4 stars most of the way through. But then it was post-war voyage and finale which nailed that 5th star. Clara Olink Kelly's Mom is this dynamic, interesting, competent, nurturing person- far beyond my use of adjectives. And her daughter has learned well from her.

Having watched Tenko on PBS (my favorite series of all time)and then read numerous first person or group accounts for women's prisoner of war or concentration camp living barracks under the Japanese occupations in Singapore, or Bangkok, or parts of Indonesia or places in between all of those locations during WWII, this is still a special, special book. Because this is primarily cored in a women who did it with babies. Lived and survived, as well, for 3 years when so many others did not.

But what puts it into a superlative category for the genre is the voice. The voice is a child's. And that looks, and it feels, and it sounds, completely different. Who knew the rainy season of nothing but mud, cold, and hunger could be FUN! It's 5 year old "eyes".

Having this small girl give this kind of detail to her witness! The minutia of the levels of fear, for instance! And the terror of calling attention to yourself! And yet the fortitude of the Mother who takes it all on herself, never failing to block even more dire news or provisional reversal from her children's psyches and ultimate awareness? It's a phenomenal book for the Mother's "good intent" projection to her kids' futures, that alone.

Wonderful, wonderful written memory and photographs galore. But even more for the solid strength of hope that one woman supported against immense evil and negativity completely surrounding her for years.

Never self-pity under such adversity and neglect! Endless kudos to her memory.

[Dolceluna ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un improvviso e curioso fuori programma fra le mie letture, voluto ardentemente dopo averlo visto acquistato da un'amica, preso in prestito in biblioteca e silurato in pochi giorni. Uno di quei libri dei quali non immagini nemmeno l'esistenza ma che, una volta scoperti, ti attraggono come una calamita per svariate ragioni, una delle quali, in questo caso, era la curiosità di scoprire qualcosa su una pagina di storia a mio avviso ignorata perchè poco conosciuta: quella della prigionia dei coloni europei nei campi di concentramento dell'Asia Orientale ad opera dei giapponesi, durante la Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Una delle varie parentesi tristi e dolorose su uno dei periodi più cupi della storia e della quale, ahimè, nonostante il mio immenso interesse per quello stesso periodo storico, sapevo poco o nulla.
Il libro si apre nell'idilliaca e colorata cornice della casa giavanese della protagonista Clara, benestante, opulenta, circondata da verde e da devoti servitori. Poi, improvvisamente, l'abisso, e lo smantellamento della famiglia: il padre viene spedito in Birmania a lavorare in ferrovia, mentre Clara, la madre e i due fratellini vengono arrestati dai giapponesi e rinchiusi nel campo di concentramento di Kamp Tjideng. E qui seguiranno tre lunghi anni di sevizie, fame, maltrattamenti, lavori forzati e malattie. E tanta, tanta sofferenza, nonostante la quale, tuttavia, la famiglia non smetterà mai di sperare nella liberazione, speranza infusa dalla figura cardine del romanzo, quella della madre di Clara: una donna forte e fiera, che accetta il suo destino senza ribellarsi ma senza mai perdere la fiducia nel prossimo e soprattutto dignità, dignità per se stessa e per i figli. Sì, è indubbiamente questa grande donna dignitosa la vera protagonista del romanzo, è lei che trasmette speranza nei figli, è lei che insegna loro a mantenere rispetto ed educazione per se stessi e gli altri anche nei momenti più tragici e difficili della prigionia, quando l'istinto di sopravvivenza sembra prendere il sopravvento sulla razionalità. E tutta la sua fierezza è incarnata da quel passaggio in cui obbedisce ad un aguizzino giapponese guardandolo però negli occhi, con sottomissione ma anche con fierezza e coraggio.
Un gran bel personaggio femminile per un importante libro- testimonianza, scritto con uno stile commosso e drammatico, utile a non dimenticare che il dolore umano non conosce limiti di epoche e nazionalità e merita di essere conosciuto e compreso in tutte le sue forme...e in tutti i suoi orrori. Concludo con un elogio alla splendida edizione Adelphi con un foto delle truppe giapponesi su una copertina rossa, rossa come i fiori di quell'albero dipinto sul quadro che la famiglia Kelly si portò sempre con sè, perfino nel campo di prigionia, come simbolo della sua unità ma anche della sua casa e della speranza di farvi ritorno.

[Xenja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una storia vera, a quanto pare, e sbalorditiva: testimonianza di chi è stata bambina in un campo di concentramento nazista a Giava. Memoir intenso e indimenticabile. Sulla seconda guerra mondiale non si finisce mai di impararne.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Thank You Mum, I love you."

That alone sums up why this book was written. It is exactly as it says it is, the memories of a Mother's Wartime Courage. The memories are shared by her daughter and many of them are, of course, devastatingly sad. The writing isn't magical, the words don't dance across the page calling you to join in. On the contrary, sometimes the stories are a little dry. I don't think the way it is written is the point. It isn't a story that is meant to entertain you. Just plain language simply stating events as they happened. So, how do I rate this book? At first I wasn't certain.
Then I read the section "A Most Special Christmas".

"Behind that blanket, our Mother was preparing Christmas!"

Suddenly, there's the magic. The mother. She doesn't have to be dolled up with fancy synonyms and catchy cliches. I began to read to learn from her, to note her steadfast faith, her patience, her ability to endure with honor and not simply survive. I started to pay close attention to the life lessons she taught her children just by being who she was inside, no matter what was happening to her on the outside.

While my son slept soundly next to me I read and was forced to reevaluate some of the things I have the audacity to complain about in my life. I started to look at myself through his eyes. In our plush 4 bedroom home stocked with food and so many simple luxuries, does he see his mother smile more than frown?

I underlined, I took a few notes and I know that this book will sit in my bookcase and call me back from time to time, just to set me straight.

So yes, this book gets 5 stars. Any book that makes me a better mother does.

[Chantal McRae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book meant a lot to me, I recently learned that my mother’s mother and her two older sisters spent years in a concentration camp in Indonesia during World War Two. Reading this book gave me a glimpse of what my Oma and aunts experienced during that time. This was a heartbreaking and beautiful story of a mother’s love and perseverance to protect her children and survive.

[Teresa Chiriacò · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uno dei migliori libri di memorie sulla 2GM mai letto, peccato sia così poco conosciuto

[Tessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've actually read this book before. It is a well-written description of one Dutch family's experiences in Indonesia, when the author's family spends 3-4 harrowing years in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. Since my mother also underwent this terrible experience, this book has helped me to understand what she might have gone through, and how it affected her after the war, and during my childhood.

[Catherine Gillespie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Flamboya Tree: Memories of a Mother’s Wartime Courage Clara Olink Kelly writes a touching and compelling tribute to the astounding ways her mother kept her and her two brothers alive during World War II.

Just weeks after giving birth, Kelly’s mother gets a few hours notice that she and the children are being taken to a Japanese concentration camp on Java, where their family–Dutch by nationality–has been living due to Kelly’s father’s business. Raised in a wealthy family, and used to luxury, Kelly’s mother nonetheless acts with incredible presence of mind and determination for the next several years. Conditions in the camps were atrocious–I can’t imagine what it must have been like to watch your children slowly starve in front of your eyes, with each person only getting one small handful of dirty rice per day to eat, never enough water, in filthy, diseased conditions, constantly fearing sadistic guards. And yet Kelly’s mother taught the children to read, read to them every day from a children’s Bible she had packed, and kept hope and kindness alive. What an amazing woman.

Kelly writes that she still has nightmares from her life in the camp, but her writing is suffused with hope. She notes that although her memories are traumatic and full of evil, they are also marked with love and joy. I thought The Flamboya Tree was an excellent memoir–one of the better examples of the genre, and such a worthwhile read.

{Read the rest of my review on A Spirited Mind}

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, if you can enjoy readinng about such a horrible subject (the concentration camps of Java during WWII). However, I think childhood can sometimes allow us to find the good things in a terrible situation where an adult may not see it at all. As a memoir, it's not really a chronological account of what happened at the camp but more a sense of what life was like at the camp. It gave an beautiful written account of what life was like, the good and the bad. However, it left me wanting to know more; more about the camps, more about life when she returned to Holland, more about what it was like to grow up with what she had experienced. But I am glad she did tell her story and I feel enriched for reading it. As a mother of two children who were roughly Clara's and Willem's ages when they went into the camp, it allowed me to think of how my own children would have coped and how I would have coped as a mother. I don't think I could have done what Clara's mother did. She is the true hero and I am glad that Clara gave the book as a tribute to her mother.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this book. It is a daughter's memories of her mother's wartime courage in a concentration camp in Java. The family was Dutch and had lived in Java many years, the children were born there. When the Japanese invaded first her father was sent off to a work camp. Then soon after the children and their mother were rounded up and taken to the concentration camp. They spent 4 hellish years there, with starvation, filth, illness, and brutal treatment by the Japanese soldiers the norm. It was a difficult to read book but one all should read. They were eventually transported to Bangkok, where they spent many months awaiting transport to Holland. They returned to Holland on a steamer that took over a month to arrive in Holland. There were daily deaths aboard ship, including a well liked young man who was an only son very anxious to get home to his parents. Mostly this story shows the unconditional love mothers have for their children, even in the harshest environment.

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I think that what happened in the concentration camps run by the Japanese on the islands that they invaded is a too little known piece of the war. Clara Kelly tells the story of what her life in the camps was like, without harboring a bitterness towards the Japanese for what was done to her and her family. The commandant of the camp systematically tried to starve to death all the prisoners there, all women and children who had not been involved in any way in the war effort.

I'm glad she wrote this book before its too late. Stories like hers need to be written, before the generation of World War II survivors is gone. I was fortunate enough to meet Clara when she attended our book club. What an amazing woman!

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vivid, insightful memoir about life in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II. When the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia) feel to the Japanese, Dutch nationals like the Olinks were interned in prison camps. The family was separated as Kelly's father was sent to a labor camp where he worked on the Burma railroad. Kelly's mother and two brothers were sent to the notorious Kamp Tjideng on Java for women and children. With over 10,000 prisoners, the camp's living conditions were frequently horrific. In addition to her vivid descriptions of life in the camp, Kelly's memoir is a loving tribute to the courage and resilience of her mother.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an amazing story. The author actually came to our book club meeting and spoke about her experiences. She is a charming woman with the grace to tell her story. I am in awe of her mother's courage and determination in such horrible circumstances.

[Swapna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a book! Hats off to the indomitable spirit of the author’s mother. It is esp. admirable since she was used to a privileged and comfortable life, being used to having servants around the house since childhood. Mrs. Olink had to go through the adversities with 2 little kids and a newborn baby in tow. Any other person in her place would have just given up.

It is a miracle that the family survived the deplorable conditions in the camp. The challenges did not end with their liberation from the camp but continued even after that – the voyage back to Holland, coping with diseases, nightmares, adjusting to life in a new country, domestic problems and so on. The last chapter is heartbreaking and brings tears to the eyes. Mrs. Olink’s never say die attitude teaches us a lot, esp. in stressful times that we are all going through.

It was shocking to read about the brutalities meted out by the Japanese soldiers and how the prisoners were denied even basic facilities. The façade of the Japanese as a cultured and respectable lot just collapsed after reading this book.

The only point that I disapproved of was the typical colonial attitude of the author in the way she mentions that the Indonesians were revolting against the Dutch rulers, which according to her implies that they were bestowing a great favour on the Indonesians. What if it was the other way round? Would the Dutch have liked it if they were ruled over by the Indonesians?

[Lyn Ambrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clara Kelly's memories of her mother's war-time courage are captured beautifully in this memoir. Clara was four years old in 1942 when the Japanese invaded Java during World War II. Her family, originally from Holland, was separated. Her father was sent to work on the infamous Burma railway while her mother, together with Clara and her two brothers, were sent to a women's concentration camp.

Clara's mother managed to hide one memory of her beautiful home and that was a painting of a flamboya tree which she took out of its frame and packed with the few belongings she was able to take with her. That painting survived many searches in the camp and helped her mother focus on survival.

Conditions were appalling. The imprisoned women and their children were brutally forced to always show respect for the Japanese Imperial Army despite them having to endure continual brutality and the most horrific treatment. They were also starving as they were given only one cup of rice a day to live on.

Hour after hour was spent standing in the boiling hot sun of Indonesia for daily roll call which could go on hour after hot hour as they stood, always bent over at the waist, honouring their captors.

This book is a tribute to Clara's mother's courage. Without it, the family would not have survived. I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir.   

[JD · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving memoir

This is the first hand account of a mother and her three children surviving internment by the Japanese during the Second World War. It is a remarkable testament to the crueltyand inhumanity to which people can descend and to the courage and resiliance of a motherin the face of the most terrible adversity.After reading The Narrow Road to the Deep North (Booker winning Japanese work camp novel) that I didn't really like I struggled to remember the name and find this book which I had partially heard on Radio 4 a decade ago. What I didn't like about the novel was the secondhandness of the sensationalism, what I had remembered for a decade and did like about this book was the authenticity of this first hand account. It is not the best written book ever, because the writer seems to be capturing what she remembered experiencing as a very young child, no more no less. It reads quickly and is very rewarding. I am reminded and chastened by the thought that the world is still full of mothers who struggle to keep their children alive and always will be.

[Sue Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been on my shelf for about 3 years now but I finally picked it up looking for suggestions for a reading group. I read it very quickly because I wanted to know all the time what was happening to the family - even though the ending is explained in the first chapter. It is a remarkable account of a family taken from their home in Java and placed in a Japanese concentration camp. Their father had already been interned and was working on the famous bridge over the River Kwai, Clara, her mother and two brothers were placed in a woman's camp and this is Clara's own memoir of what happened in those days.

Clara was only 4 at the time and in this book she really does explain what she saw and what she felt rather than the opinions or tales of anyone else - obviously she spoke to her brothers and her mother over the intervening years but she has managed to make this a very personal memoir.

I will certainly (and unusually) read it again because in my wish to know more about the tale, I surely missed a lot.

[Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Moving.

As an account of how a Dutch family was torn apart during WW2 in Indonesia, and the way a mum looked after her three children for several years in a Japanese concentration camp. Written by the daughter, this factual account will break your heart with the matter of fact descriptions of the daily degradations.
But even after the war ends, there is no respite as the camps they were sent to, albeit without guards, has little food and less medicine. And the voyage back to Holland has its own share of pain and inhumanity.
What shines out though is the determination of the mum to make sure her children make it through; a fierceness to protect in the face of cruelty.

You will need to take a minute - or two... or three... - to take time, and hug those precious to you having read this.

It's that kind of book.

[Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was excited to read this book as the story has a special place in my heart: my Dutch grandfather, his siblings and their mother were also taken prisoner by the Japanese in 1945 from the island of Sumatra. They spent 4 years in a concentration camp, the youngest sibling, Willem, only 18 months old when the family were imprisoned. Unfortunately my grandfather died before I was born; the only family accounts I can access are through Great Uncle Willem (who was very young during the imprisonment) and stories that my great-grandmother passed onto my mum. This book gives valuable insight into the terrible experiences in the concentration camps, an experience similar to what my family would also have endured.

I would recommend reading this book. It reveals an almost forgotten corner of history, while engaging the reader and coming to a satisfying conclusion.

[Linda Humberstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

This true story reveals what it was like for children and their mothers to be in a Japanese concentration camp in Java for nearly four years. Narrated by Clara, who was four years old at the time of their incarceration, you follow this family and the horrors they witnessed and endured. The resilience and fortitude of their mother was incredible for a woman who was transported from a comfortable, enjoyable life, to one of cruelty and deprivation. They were in a desperate state by the time the war ended and wouldn't have survived if it hadn't. The transition to ordinary life was traumatic for the children as they couldn't remember a life where they were free: even going upstairs to bed in their grandmother's home was a frightening experience. You feel so much admiration for Clara's mother who was resolutely determined to survive with her children.

[Ashutosh SHUKLA · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read memoir on the lesser known Japanese concentration camps in Java.
I was traveling in the body of the little girl, when she spent 3 years in the camp. When she had excruciating pain, but could not speak as it was overwhelming. When she and her siblings held themselves up to their mothers standards in terms of honesty and morality, despite being in the harshest of conditions.
It is rightly dedicated to the authors mother..how she kept the three children positive and motivated to reach holland...which took ages to reach.
A great work which took me on an emotional roller coaster, I thoroughly enjoyed! Can not recommend enough..

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a true story based on the author's own story and written as a tribute to her mother whose strong spirit and bravery meant that she and her three children managed to survive the most awful concentration camp in Java.

The story itself is horrific but Clara Olink Kelly writes in such an open and honest way like she is talking to the reader in her sitting room.

No spoiler to say that they did all survive the ordeal but many didn't - some even died on the ship taking survivors back to Holland after the war.

Reading this certainly makes you grateful that the worst our generation has had to suffer is the lockdown because of Covid! It puts it all in perspective!

[H · Rating 2 out of 5]

A worthwhile story that needed to be told. I was unaware of these concentrations camps and it's important to understand the tragedies that have occurred in wars past in order to prevent them in the future.

Nevertheless the telling of the story is as important as the story told. The writing is a bit pedestrian and her descriptions of the "natives", was off-putting . There was what seemed a distinct bias towards other races and a superiority complex apparent throughout the book which was also bothersome.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

really enjoyed this book. It was so sad reading about what families went through and the strength and power of a mothers love and the lengths people went to enable them to survive. It is also not just what they go through whilst in camp but also what they go through after they are released from camp and trying to get back to a normal life.

[Kylie Barton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A proper page turner - quickest I have ever read a book! It has made me want to read the real history behind these events. A very sad story but also reminds us just how strong and good humans can be, as well as how evil and weak.

[Dee Caggiano · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a courageous, strong, and loving mother! She never gave up and no matter how bad things were, she helped cultivate and preserve your health and family values. It was sad to hear about your Dad...
Well written and shared.

[Suzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book I've read regarding conditions in the internment camps in Java. The memoir is written from a child's point of view in hindsight. Quite a difficult book for me, as a family member was in Tjideng, and reading about the conditions was quite confronting

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

to say i loved it seems the wrong thing to say when you have read about the harsh brutality a family and families suffered in the Japanese prisoner of war camps.
so glad that Clara shared her story.