This is a story of a young, rich, rather spoiled young woman as she grows up during the Japanese invasion of Malaysia. In 1940 her life is one round of tennis matches, swimming parties and dances in the beautiful city of Singapore. Her father owns a large rubber company and money is no object in her rounds of shopping and leisurely lunches. She meets a young Australian doctor who challenges her to grow up and become a responsible adult. He encourages her to become an ambulance driver.

With World War II raging, and the threat of the Japanese looming, she chooses, along with most of the British in Singapore, to ignore the warning signs and believe in the invincibility of Fortress Singapore. Of course, as we all know, Singapore and all of Malaysia did fall. Having left her escape too late, she becomes a prisoner of war and endures three and a half years in the prison camps. Here she proves to be a woman of great inner strength and courage.

The Other Side of Paradise although interesting and well written, brings nothing new to the plate in regards to the fall of Singapore and the harsh conditions the British faced but this is ultimately a love story and as such I enjoyed it very much. ( )