Covering four remarkable years, based upon the writer’s extensive diaries made at the time, an auto-biographical account of life as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II. 
Despite the passage of years, the facts are detailed and authentic.  Accounts are given of many unique activities entailing improvisations under conditions of great privation and hardship.  There are also descriptions and comments on prison camp life, which only close personal involvement could make possible.  
The writer’s problem has been to convey a true picture of the extraordinary conditions of his imprisonment at Blakang Mati and Changi, whilst maintaining credibility.  The conditions ranged from extreme privation to intense mental stimulation and satisfaction.  An effort has been made to hold a reasonable and factual balance between descriptions of events and conditions which, to a non- participant, may well seem incompatibly contradictory or exaggerated. 
The great contrast between life in European prison camps and that in the Japanese camps will be of particular interest to many readers.