In the Shadow of the Rising Sun

When Mary Thomas left the shores of England for Singapore in December 1939 to live a leisurely life of an Englishwoman in a colonial outpost, she did not expect to soon find her circumstances greatly changed. After the Japanese bombs fell on 8 December 1941, Mary chose not to rush for the first boat out of Singapore and instead stayed on to serve in the Medical Auxiliary Service, and in 1942 she was interned in Changi Prison by the Japanese conquerors together with a few thousand unfortunate people. This is the true story of how a young Englishwoman spent three and a half years under the watchful eyes of the Japanese. Through the various difficulties and trials of internment, Mary recorded in a diary the sufferings and little joys of her fellow internees, and the surprising kindness, bravery and redemption showed by many of them. Her reflections, sensitive and optimistic, celebrate the strength of the human will to survive and to love even in the darkest of times.