My Dutch grandmother, Gon Boissevain, was living in Java during World War Two. Gon and her two small children Ies (my mother) and Romée (my aunt) lived through the horrors of a Japanese prison camp.
A very close friend of Gon, Lennie van Empel, was in the same camp, with her little boy Martijn. During the camp period Lennie kept a diary. Long after the war Lennie's diary surfaced and Gon asked to read it.
It made such an impression on her that she decided to write her own account of what had happened in the Japanese prison camp, with Lennie's diary close to hand. She strung her memories to those of Lennie, like adding "beads to a necklace".
The book was published in Holland, in 1981. My mother and my aunt have commissioned me to translate the book from Dutch into English. I am currently in the process of translating it.
A few chapters of the English translation have been added to this web site. The working title of the English translation is 'In the Shadow of the Red Sun'. The original title of the book is 'Vrouwenkamp op Java'. (Women's Camp in Java)
Nick Walker
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