First published 2014
Dorrigo Evans carries two burdens through World War II. The first is his impossible love for Amy, his uncle's wife, begun in a crumbling beachside hotel before the war. The second is his duty as a doctor to Australian prisoners of war building the Thai-Burma railway under brutal Japanese guards. In August 1943, in a jungle prison camp, Evans faces an impossible day. His fellow POWs are dying from disease, starvation, and violence. He fights to save lives with no medicine, no supplies, and no hope. A man dies for no reason. The heat builds toward a horrific climax. Evans must choose between his medical oath and his own survival while memories of Amy torment him. The story moves between the caves of early twentieth century Tasmania, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Japanese snow festivals, and the Changi gallows. This is a story about love that cannot exist and survival that demands everything.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Tasmania, Sydney, Thailand, Burma
Period: 1943
334 pages · Hardcover · Alfred A. Knopf
Content warnings: violence, war