This is a fictional story set around a true event. A prison break in NSW, Australia in 1944 where as the blurb puts it: "more than one thousand Japanese prisoners of war staged the largest and most violent prison escape of World War II." The author was 9 years old at the time and states it was terrifying. So we know at the outset how this is going to end up.

There is a very long buildup to the prison break. The opening chapter set in Japan in 1946 intrigues the reader with a brief story of Aoki returning home, but then we go to Australia in 1943-1944 to learn some history. This historical drama has some odd romance in it but the story takes a while to build. I found it a rather tedious portrayal of a handful of Australians and Brits as well as a few of the prisoners and prison guards (the prisoners were more interesting, little that we got about them). I never felt like I would stop reading this, but I was underwhelmed and can't find a reason to praise it. Keneally seems to enjoy painting women as man hungry.

Some readers find a real insight into understanding Japanese soldiers' martial and moral code in World War II, something that I for one have always had a hard time understanding - banzai death charges, never surrender, disembowel yourself, kamikazes. This does give a person some insight in how it might be inside the soldiers' heads. The captured soldiers live in shame for not having died in battle. They want an honorable death. ( )

On August 5, 1944 1,104 Japanese prisoners of war attempted to escape from a prison camp in New South Wales, Australia. This is a fictional story based on this event.

[a:Tom Keneally|7026009|Tom Keneally|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1540345609p2/7026009.jpg] sets the scene outside the prison: the surrounding farms and their occupants. Among those on the farms is a young woman, Alice, living with her father-in-law. Barely married, her husband was sent off to war and is now himself a prisoner in a German Camp. An Italian prisoner is sent to the farm as a laborer and the relationship that develops between Giancarlo, Alice and her father-in-law Duncan is a quiet study in what war can do to those left at home. I will readily admit, I was quite bored with their story in the beginning. Silently cursing that I had picked another DNF. However, his writing is so engrossing,( I can't say beautiful-this is not a beautiful story)-he slowly pulled me in and totally won me over.

The prison, the camp the soldiers and guards, all come into play slowly and methodically. The men left to facilitate at these training camps and prisons were, of course, the men who could not fight due to age or illness or injury. They have no clear understanding of who they hold and why they all want to die. The Japanese solider was taught to be captured is to be shamed. They believed that their burial rites, already carried out by their families, were not reversible. Dying was not just an option, it was their duty.

This is a raw, brutal story that some may find offensive. I do think that fans of Literary Fiction would gobble this one up. I found it by pure luck, just searching my library's catalog for a book based in Australia. It gave me a clear, unblemished picture of Australia during War II-something I never even thought about. So many books on WWII are based in Central Europe, and we forget it was a World War. This book brings that home in spades. ( )

I chose this as one of my Anzac reads. The topic is one I previously knew nothing about. The title is very apt referring as it does to the prisoner-of-war camp in Cowra, Sydney, during the Second World War. Although, for the purposes of this book it is a fictional town of Gawell. In the author's introduction she makes it quite clear though that the personal lives of some of the characters is purely fictional.
In the story the camp is home to POW's from Italy, Japan, Korea and Indonesia. The Italians, in particular, are happy enough to be there and many are soon released to work and live on neighbouring farms. However, for the Japanese, it is a matter of shame, as in their culture there is more honour in being killed than being captured alive. The conditions in the camp are relatively comfortable and they are encouraged to partake in recreational activities. It is with reluctance that most eventually agree but some remain faithful to their stance on non-compliance. When it is decided that, the officers are to be moved to another camp, as many of them are perpetuating this belief, they decide as a group to pit themselves on mass against their captors.
The resulting carnage is part of history, but the motive for this action was for the Australians to be forced to kill the Japanese and enabling them to experience an honourable death.
I found this story a little slow to get into as it moves around several narrators, the main characters in the story. One of these is the wife of an Australian soldier in captivity in Europe who waits with her father-in-law for his return. It is to their farm that one of the Italian POW's is sent and an affair ensues.
Overall though this was an enjoyable and informative read. ( )

inspired by outbreak of Japanese Prisoners of War at Cowra, Nsw, on 5 August 1944

Remarkable novel. ( )