Sunflower Seeds

The Bird In The Bamboo Cage by Hazel Gaynor is an incredibly powerful historical novel that will educate you as you read. It is based on true life events, making the book even more powerful.

Much is known about the war in Europe during World War II but far less is known about the war in the Pacific – this book helps to rectify this.

The story opens in China during 1941 at the Chefoo Missionary School. Many will realise the significance of the year as the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, making war in the Far East a certainty. As the Japanese walked into China, they occupied the missionary school. The whole school moved twice to different internment camps, each one worse than the last. The Japanese guards were incredibly cruel but there were those who maintained their humanity, showing little pockets of kindness.

The tale is told through two alternating points of view – a teacher and a pupil. Their experiences are similar but different as the teacher tries to cushion her pupils from the horrors. Even within the camps, school learning and routines continued, in order to help maintain some familiarity.

In the filth and the cruelty bonds were formed, linking survivors together forever. If you weren’t there, you could never understand what happened.