At the fall of Singapore, funny, forthright, ten-year-old Sylvie Sambuk, left behind in the scramble to escape, takes refuge with Virginia, her half-Chinese governess. Her presence puts Virginia’s family at risk from the Japanese and they end up together in an internment camp.

 Here, in the company of stoical and courageous women, Sylvie matures through intimate exposure to courage and friendship, fear and love. Then the time comes for her, a very changed person, to take up her place again in her own conflict-laden family. Things do not run smoothly and adjustments have to be made to survive in the Post-War world.

  ‘This is a terrific read. A world on the cusp of change, and we experience it intimately.’