Publisher's synopsis
The transformative story of war and love as a beautiful clothbound hardback, part of the Penguin Modern Australian Classics series.
August, 1943. In the despair of a Japanese POW camp on the Thai-Burma death railway, Australian surgeon Dorrigo Evans is haunted by his love affair with his uncle’s young wife two years earlier. Struggling to save the men under his command from starvation, from cholera, from beatings, he receives a letter that will change his life forever.
This savagely beautiful novel is a story about the many forms of love and death, of war and truth, as one man comes of age, prospers, only to discover all that he has lost.
Awards
- Margaret Scott Prize • Winner • 2015 • Margaret Scott Prize – Tasmanian Premier’s Literary Prizes
- International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award • Shortlisted • 2015 • International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
- Tasmania Book Prize • Longlisted • 2015 • Tamania Book Prize – Premier’s Literary Prizes
- Man Booker Prize • Winner • 2014 • Man Booker Prize
- Prime Minister’s Literary Award • Joint winner • 2014 • Prime Minister’s Literary Award
- Queensland Literary Awards • Winner • 2014 • University of Queensland Fiction Book Award
- The Indie Awards • Winner • 2014 • Independent Booksellers Award
- Western Australian Premier’s Book Awards • Winner • 2014 • Western Australia Premier’s Book Award
- Colin Roderick Award • Shortlisted • 2014 • Colin Roderick Award
- NSW Premier’s Literary Awards • Shortlisted • 2014 • Christina Stead Prize for Fiction
