Someone Will Conquer Them

by Elizabeth Kata

Mary Ogata, the American wife of a Japanese scientist, finds herself under house arrest in a mountain village during the Second World War with her steadfast and stubborn servant Suzuki. Enduring suffering at the hands of the sadistic Captain Tanaka who is tormented by desire for the woman he hates, Mary's miserable existence is suddenly disrupted when she helps to conceal a wounded American airman in her cottage. Mary, Suzuki, and the easy-going black market trader Ludi Hoffer, must now elude the investigations of police officer Noguchi in order to protect the airman and themselves. But will Noguchi's beguiling daughter unravel their secret? And how will their fortunes change in the aftermath of the atomic bomb and the destruction of Hiroshima? In Someone Will Conquer Them, first published in 1962, Kata draws on her own experience of life in wartime Japan, and brings to life a dynamic cast of characters, each unique yet united by a common humanity in spite of cultural differences and the hardships of war. The defeat and subsequent occupation of Japan serves as a backdrop to Mary Ogata's own journey to understanding friendship, love, and, ultimately, herself.

263 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 19, 2015

About the author

Elizabeth Katayama (1912 – 4 September 1998) was an Australian writer under the pseudonym Elizabeth Kata, best known for Be Ready with Bells and Drums (1961), which was made into the award-winning film A Patch of Blue (1965).

She was born of Scottish parents in Sydney in 1912. After marrying a Japanese man named Katayama in 1937, she lived for ten years in Japan. During the last years of World War II she was interned at the mountain resort village of Karuizawa, Nagano. She returned to Australia in 1947 with her baby son, battling the Australian Government for permission.

As well as writing novels, she also wrote for television and several Hollywood scripts. Her first novel, Be Ready with Bells and Drums (written in 1959, first published in 1961), was produced as the film A Patch of Blue (1965). Shelley Winters playing the role of Rose-Ann D'Arcey won an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Guy Green, who directed, also adapted Kata's book and his screenplay was nominated for a Writers Guild of America award. After the success of the film, the novel was re-released as A Patch of Blue. The book was for many years included in the "school book list" both in the US and Australia. The book Mrs Katayama and Her Splash of Blue (2010, Independence Jones), covers how Elizabeth Kata's first book became the film A Patch of Blue.

Elizabeth Katayama died in Sydney in 1998.