Lost Childhood: My Life in a Japanese prison Camp During World War II

This book is by a Dutch woman who was four years old at the time the Japanese overran Java. The book opens with her describing the type of life they were having before the attack. They had their own servants and a nice life.

Then the war came and the Japanese attacked. They quickly overran the island, and the author, her brother, mother and grandmother were packed up by the Japanese and taken to one of the prison camps. The brother was separated and set to a men's camp. The rest of the book describes the harsh life they had in the prison camps, where punishment by the guards was frequent and, at times, deadly. Gradually they all suffered malnutrition and the author in particular contracted malaria. She paints a very vivid picture of the harshness of the camp.

Eventually, though, the war ended, but her troubles did not. Revolutionaries on the island wanted the Dutch gone (preferably dead), and again she was placed in a situation that was dangerous and potentially fatal. Eventually she has to leave the island.

It's a good book, showing how bad the Japanese prison camps were.

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