A moving memoir of childhood in Dutch colonial Java, coming of age in wartime, and the trauma of life in WWII Labor Camps run by the Japanese.

As a boy growing up the Dutch island colony of Java, John K. Stutterheim spent hours exploring his exotic surroundings, taking walks with his younger brother and dachshund along winding jungle roads. It was a fairly typical life for a colonial family in the Dutch East Indies, but their colonial idyll ended when the Japanese invaded in 1942, when John was fourteen.

With the surrender of Java, John’s father was taken prisoner. Soon thereafter, John, his younger brother, and his mother were imprisoned. A year later he and his brother were moved to a forced labor camp for boys, where disease, starvation, and the constant threat of imminent death took their toll.

Throughout all of these travails, John kept a secret diary hidden in his mattress. His memories now offer a unique perspective on an often-overlooked episode of World War II. What emerges is a compelling story of a young man caught up in the machinations of a global war—struggling to survive while caring for his gravely ill brother.