Starred review from August 1, 2023
In Java, Dutch East Indies, on the brink of World War II, the quiet existence of a Dutch family is upended when the Netherlands declares war on Japan. The Japanese military occupies Java, and Mary Vischer, her two children, and her mother-in-law are imprisoned in Tjideng, a POW camp. Mary is three months pregnant when she enters the camp. She and her family try to survive the deplorable conditions, where torture and death are daily occurrences, and only the strongest make it. Mary's husband George, serving in the Dutch navy, is captured by Japanese forces early in the war, and neither he nor Mary know if the other is still alive. When the war finally ends, there is no peace in the Dutch East Indies, as the Indonesian population begins to seek independence from the Netherlands, and the colonizers, the Dutch, soon become refugees. Resonating with stories of the best and worst amidst the cruelties of war, though viewed through the colonizers' perspective as opposed to that of Indonesians, this novel from Moore (In the Shadow of a Queen) highlights an area less explored in WWII fiction. VERDICT This excellent historical novel based on a true story will be eagerly consumed by readers interested in the era.--Pam O'Sullivan
Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 1, 2023
Based on a true story, Moore's (In the Shadow of a Queen, 2022) latest focuses on a rarely examined aspect of WWII: the Dutch experience during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia. The Vischers are among the many families that flocked to the Netherlands East Indies (NEI) during the era of Dutch colonization. Their comfortable life on Java Island is upended when, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Dutch declare war on Japan. The island comes under Japanese control and pregnant Mary Vischer, her elderly mother, and her two young children are forced into a women's prison camp. Meanwhile, George Vischer is en route to Australia with the Dutch navy when his minesweeper is hit; adrift in a lifeboat with his crew, he struggles to stay alive. Moore vividly evokes the harsh conditions endured by Dutch POWs during their three-year imprisonment in overcrowded camps rife with disease and run by a sadistic Japanese commander. Moore's prologue and chapter notes widen the lens, offering information about Indonesia's colonial history, the revolution that followed the Japanese occupation, and Indonesian independence.
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