From the bestselling author of A Pledge of Silence comes a story of resistance, intrigue, and risking it all in the WWII Philippines.
December 1941. War has erupted in the Pacific, spelling danger for Gina Capelli Thorpe, an American expat living in Manila. When the Japanese invade and her husband goes missing, Gina flees with her daughter to the Zambales Mountains to avoid capture—or worse.
… avoid capture—or worse.
Desperate for money, medicine, and guns, the resistance recruits Gina to join their underground army and smuggles her back to Manila. There, she forges a new identity and opens a nightclub, where seductive beauties sing, dance, and tease secrets out of high-ranking Japanese officers while the wildly successful club and its enemy patrons help fund the resistance.
But operating undercover in the spotlight has Gina struggling to stay a step ahead of the Japanese. She’s risked everything to take a stand, but her club is a house of cards in the eye of a storm. Can Gina keep this delicate operation running long enough to outlast the enemy, or is she on a sure path to defeat that will put her family, her freedom, or even her life at risk?
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Flora Solomon has expertly recreated a mostly-forgotten World War II in the Pacific Theater: the Japanese invasion and occupation of the Philippines. After a number of missteps by General MacArthur, including his failure to remove American warplanes from the runway at the Army Air Force base, the General left the islands and abandoned the Americans he left behind to their fate. Ms. Solomon correctly reproduces the American expectation that MacArthur would protect them and tells, through the character code named “Kitty,” what happened to those who remained behind. The characters she creates to represent the Americans and Filipinos in Manila are so convincingly drawn that they spring to life before our eyes and quickly immerse us in their dangerous world. Highest praise for this well-researched fictional account of those terrible days.
Overall, this was a good book. I enjoyed most of it. However, I deduct one star for good reason.
It was clear to me, and later confirmed, the author has never been to the Philippines. She can get away with that for many, but I knew, and it caused me to stand back a little instead of becoming utterly immersed in the setting. She did fake it quite well though. It was a shame because the book was meticulously researched and really did justice to those terrible times. Even a few weeks in Luzon would have helped enormously into getting to the essential heart of Filipinos and their culture instead of attempting to replicate parts in this novel by way of “distance learning.”
The faking also occurred with some of her characters as I could not quite connect with some of them. Some were simply too shallow. They felt like outline sketches at times when I yearned for more flesh, color, and zip.
The same can be said for the plot as good as it was. It plodded too many times, perhaps understandable because there are only so many ways to write a scene in a nightclub where you fear for your life because you are a spy surrounded by a fearsome and loathsome enemy.
But you know what? The author pulled off a difficult job. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in WW2 historical fiction.
PS shall I let you into a secret? I’m a grown man and I cried at the end of this book.
Gripping storyline with realistic insights into WWII affect on those in the Philippines.
I loved the character development.
WWII in the Philippines
I wish I could give 10 stars.
Recommended for mature audiences
Limited harsh language -appropriate for the circumstances
Violence
No sex, but knowledge of abuse is alluded to.
I had no idea of the atrocities endured by the people of the Philippines at the hands of the invading Japanese.
While fictional, this tale is historically accurate.
War is cruel, and brings out the worst….AND the best in everyday people. Ms. Solomon, the author, demonstrates this by presenting us with 3 dimensional characters, not stereotypes. It goes without saying that you can expect to have little or no sympathy for the Japanese, and new respect for the guerrillas in the jungles, resistance workers both in town and throughout the mountains, and the many innocent families in hiding.
Do not let the horrors of war prevent you from reading, because this is a story of courage and enduring hope.
Recommended Recommended Recommended
Flora Solomon captures the waning days of colonial Manilla with the broad strokes and intense passion of a Claude Monet painting. She transports us onto a faltering journey of denial into the mountains. One by one the trappings of privilege and an easy life fall to the wayside. The realities of an inevitable occupation by a brutal invader amidst the crumbling prognostication of victory by General MacArthur drive Gina, her daughter Cheryl, from coping to survival. Tormented by the thought of her husband’s almost certain capture, Gina experiences the savagery of the Japanese when she encounters the death march of US and Philippine prisoners of war. This realization drives her to take life-threatening risks to raise money for the resistance fighters by opening a nightclub fleecing the Japanese clientele of money and information. Along this journey, Flora has us smelling the fragrances of the Orient, the sights, and sounds of the forest and tasting the bile of suffering and brutality. A story of love, loss, and grit during an epoch time in U. S. history, not to be missed.
5 Stars. A harrowing tale that reads like a true story along the lines of Three Came Home or The Great Raid. Riveting, touching, dramatic. Celebrates overcoming adversity, remaining steadfast to a cause, and sacrificing so that other might live. Great ending! The 13 hours of listening to this Audible version flew by! A must-read & favorite.
(Triggers: Assaults & torture described but not especially gratuitous. Some language.)
Many books have been written about the Second World War in Europe. This book fills the need to learn about the Japanese invasion, the fear and endurance of the people living there, and the inhumane treatment of our troops by the Japanese.
Ninety-nine per cent of WW II literature is about European fighting. This heartbreaking, yet inspirational, story about the Pacific campaign is an eye opener. Great characters who took risks to help others make for a positive and transformative reading experience while the Japanese military’s heinous acts of cruelty have stayed with me for the year since I read this. Highly recommended.
Worthwhile read. Immensely entertaining with vivid characters. Great history lesson
A good read set in the Philippines in WWII. A refreshing look at was happening on the other side of the world during WWII. Heaert=breaking at times but satisfying characters and storylines.-
just a wonderful book I recommended it to friends
A lot of information about the atrocities committed by the Japanese Army during WW II has conveniently been “ forgotten “. Likewise, the heroism and courage of the resistance forces who tried to disrupt the Japanese occupation of the Philippines seems to have been lost to history.
This book a well researched and very well written history lesson, which might well be brought to mind in today’s world if geopolitics, macroeconomics, and politically international relations.
This is a great read; it is a testament to the courage of the Resistance to the Japanese occupation of the Philippines; and it is also a reminder if what “war crimes” are all about.