Prisoner from Penang

After the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor it’s the start of the war in the pacific, they easily take Malay and they have their sights set on Singapore. Mary Helston flees Penang with her mother Janet, they arrive in Singapore praying they would be safe and surely the Japanese army would be stopped. The......more

My heart! This story was so powerful, it took me a few days to gather my thoughts and write a review that would fully explain what I felt. Through Mary’s diary, I learned about the Japanese invasion of Singapore and the brutalities that were inflicted on the civilian population right after. What Mar......more

Awesome book Really enjoyed Mary's story. Though horrifying, it was a story that needed to be told. Very well written story. Would highly recommend.......more

After devouring The Pearl of Penang, I read Prisoner from Penang almost immediately, and found it equally as compelling. I want to say ‘entertaining’ but due to the subject matter, one can’t be really entertained by such hardship and heartache. However, it is far from a depressing read. We follow the......more

This book describes some of the harshest, most extreme situations from history with a cup of tea and a cake. It's as if author is nibbling on Victoria sponge while browsing through somebody else's diaries, or photographs, and all that extreme human suffering fails to produce any kind of emotional re......more