HOSTAGES TO FORTUNE IS A GREAT READ
This is a sensitive, well-written account of the days leading up to the fall of Hong Kong on Christmas Day, 1941, and what happened to the Allied soldiers after the Japanese invasion. This author recreates, from the accounts of some of the survivors, what is what like to suffer the horrors of the Shamshuipo prisoner-of-war camp, and the unspeakable cruelties the prisoners then went on to face on the Japanese 'hell ship' the Lisbon Maru. For me it was especially poignant: it brought home to me the last days of my grandfather in the camp and on the hell ship before he was killed.
In this book, Tim Carew particularly excels at bringing the characters and courage of the British soldiers to life. The descriptions of the different regiments and how they fought, and the particular way he recreates for the reader the ironic and hugely courageous humour of the 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment, is an absolute joy and a fitting tribute to the brave sacrifices so many soldiers made in the face of such overwhelmingly impossible odds.
