The Flamboya Tree - Hardcover

Kelly, Clara Olink

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0091795176 ISBN 13: 9780091795177

Publisher: Hutchinson, 2002

Synopsis

When the Japanese invaded the beautiful Indonesian island of Java during World War II, Clara Kelly was four years old. Her family was separated, her father sent to work on the Burma railway, and she together with her two brothers, one a six-week-old baby, were sent to a "women's camp". They were interned there until the end of the war. Clara describes the appalling deprivations and impersonal brutality of the camp, such as standing in the baking heat for hours of "Tenko" rolecall and living on one cup of rice a day. These descriptions are countered by the courage and resilience shown by all the internees, most poignantly her own mother. Remarkable too is the way the children, Clara and her elder brother, and their friends keep their spirits high, finding ways to play even in the darkest times with death one false move away. Just as the painting of a Flamboya tree miraculously survives every last-minute flight and surprise search by the Japanese, Clara carries her mother's spirit of love, humour and courage through all of her experiences.

About this title

Review:

'... that rare treasure - a memoir so powerful and vivid that it draws that past into the present and makes us all history's creatures.' -- Amanda Foreman

'...a fascinating story that will leave the reader informed about a missing piece of the World War II experience, and in awe of one family's survival.' -- Elizabeth Norman, author of We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese

'As Clara Kelly honors her mother's memory we are reminded that not all the heroes of World War II faced the bullets of the battlefield.' -- James Bradley, author of 'Flags of our Fathers'

'Sometimes the history of war hides its best stories, its fine, quite stories...The Flamboya Story is such a story...' -- Alan Furst

'The Flamboya Tree is like a bright jewel found in the dust of fading history. I was bowled over by this book.' -- Carolyn See

The Flamboya Tree is that rare treasure - a memoir so powerful and vivid that it draws the past into the present and makes us all history's creatures. -- Amanda Foreman

Book Description:

A shocking and moving war memoir told from the perspective of a young child interned in a brutally violent Japanese war camp during World War Two. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas meets Rabbit-Proof Fence in this startling and unique autobiography of a childhood spent in captivity.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hutchinson
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0091795176
• ISBN 13: 9780091795177
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224