by Martin Booth
First published 1985
Joe Sandingham emerges from a Japanese prisoner of war camp broken in body and spirit. The war has ended, but his battles have not. He makes his way to Hong Kong, where the bustling colonial city offers both refuge and fresh torment. Joe struggles to rebuild his life among the crowded streets and harbor traffic, but the memories of captivity follow him everywhere. He drinks too much and drifts between odd jobs, unable to connect with other people or find peace within himself. The other survivors have their own ways of coping, but Joe remains trapped between his traumatic past and an uncertain future. His attempts at normalcy crumble as he confronts what the war has taken from him and what little it has left behind.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adult-fiction
Vibes: atmospheric, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Hong Kong, Japan
Period: World War II
441 pages · Hardcover · Atlantic Monthly Press
Content warnings: violence