THE STORY
1941-42
The Japanese army sweeps through Malaya and Singapore, crushing any resistance and tearing apart Malay, Chinese, Indian and Jahut families. A British officer and an American journalist are swept into their world of cruel loss and harrowing violence – yet hope for the future is shaped.
1957
In a year of commemoration and liberty, war survivors converge again – a widow securing her own home, an orphan as symbol for the future, a journalist establishing her political voice, a civil servant who suffered under occupation now helping write independence, an officer training the next generation. National identities forged from private acts of survival, sacrifice and forgiveness .
Told on an epic scale, the story remains character driven across two timeframes. One officer’s journey links the strands, but the story belongs to all of them.
The intensity and horrors of war between December 1941 and February 1942. Then, fifteen years later, the reconciliation and hope of 1957, spanning the Singapore war memorial commemoration in March and proclamation of Malayan independence in August.
Rarely covered with such encompassing and personal detail, events define the fate of nations with an authenticity to the pain and final celebration of the human spirit.