A TOWN LIKE ALICE BY NEVIL SHUTE (HC, AMEREON HOUSE LIMITED COPY)

Description: (from the author’s note) On the publication of this book I expect to be accused of falsifying history, especially in regard to the march and death of the homeless women prisoners. I shall be told that it happened in Sumatra. Nothing of the sort ever happened in Malaya, and this is true. After the conquest of Malaya in 1942 the Japanese invaded Sumatra and quickly took the island. A party of about eighty Dutch women and children were collected in the vicinity of Padang. The local Japanese commander was reluctant to assume responsibility for these women and, to solve his problem, marched them out of his area; so began a trek all round Sumatra which lasted for two and a half years. At the end of this vast journey less than thirty of them were still alive. In 1949 I stayed with Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Geysel-Vonck at Palembang in Sumatra. Mrs. Geysel had been a member of that party. When she was taken prisoner she was a slight, pretty girl of twenty-one, recently married; she had a baby six months old, and a very robust sense of humour. In the years that followed Mrs. Geysel marched over twelve hundred miles carrying her baby, in circumstances similar to those which I have described. She emerged from this fantastic ordeal undaunted, and with her son fit and well. I do not think that I have ever before turned to real life for an incident in one of my novels. If I have done so now it is because I have been unable to resist the appeal of this true story, and because I want to pay what tribute is within my power to the most gallant lady I have ever met. NEVIL SHUTE. ABOUT USWe are a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation. We sell books and other items donated by our community members to raise money for our local library system. We fund services, reading programs and purchases not in their budget. Our organization has operated continuously in the same city since 1937. PROCEEDS BENEFIT OUR LOCAL LIBRARY PROGRAMS - THANK YOU! Please visit our store for more titles.https://www.ebay.com/usr/friendsofthepaloaltolibrary

Price: 49.99 USD

Location: Palo Alto, California

End Time: 2024-12-16T15:30:28.000Z

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