Product Description

A naive young man, a railway enthusiast and radio buff, was caught up in the fall of the British Empire at Singapore in 1942. He was put to work on the 'Railway of Death' - the Japanese line from Thailand to Burma. Exhaustively and brutally tortured by the Japanese for making a crude radio, Lomax was emotionally ruined by his experiences. Almost 50 years after the war, however, his life was changed by the discovery that his interrogator, the Japanese interpreter, was still alive - their reconciliation is the culmination of this extraordinary story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35360 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

The Times, Ross Leckie
`A perfect work of monumental simplicity... I cannot think how it became out of print. It should never be so again.'

From the Publisher
ONE OF TWELVE TITLES IN VINTAGE'S A FORMAT WAR PROMOTIONWINNER OF THE 1996 NCR BOOK AWARD.

About the Author
Eric Lomax was born in 1919. During the Second World War he was captured and tortured by the Japanese Army and forced to work on the notorious Burma-Siam railway. He met and forgave his torturer in 1995. He now lives in Berwick-upon-Tweed.

Customer Reviews

A harrowing though ultimately uplifting account.
This account of the author's experiences as a Japanese prisoner of war is,as you'd expect, a fairly harrowing one. But what lifts this remarkabletale is the book's humanity and compassion, and the tenderness of itsnarrative.
Whether Eric Lomax is re-living his childhood fascination with steamlocomotives and trams, or describing the horrendous, inhuman acts of torture, the prose are consistently imbued with an almost poetic andinnocent sense of wonder.
The details, observations and character sketches are authentically andvividly drawn. But it is the final passages of this book which documentthe author's determination to come face to face with one of his torturers,that make this extaordinary book so moving, compelling and ultimatelyuplifting.

A Remarkable Testimony
Eric Lomax's book is a remarkable tale of courage, endurance and forgiveness. I bought the book whilst on holiday in Singapore and thought it superb from beginning till end.

I have a great love of literature but sadly there isn't much on the bookstore shelves to get excited about. Nowadays, it seems that there are way too many "authors" who have never really lived and the superficiality of their prose is clearly that of the untried apprentice. On the other hand, Eric Lomax may not be a famous author but the beautiful simplicity and humility of his brutal tale make it worthy of fame. It is clear from the outset that his his voice is one of genuine authority: the authority of a man who has earned his right to authorship through an immense suffering.

I recommend this book as a classic of its kind and as one of particular value to anybody who has suffered in circumstances not of their own making.

A Wonderful book
I can't recommend this book too highly. Probably the best book I've ever read about the Second World War and mans inhumanity to man. Yet it still leaves you with a belief in mans essential goodness. Buy it.