Guests of the Emperor

by Janice Young-Brooks

A SEARING SAGA OF WOMEN POWS CAUGHT IN THE CLASH BETWEEN EAST AND WEST.

They came from all walks of life. Some were privileged, some were innocent, some were lost. But to the Japanese they were all the enemy-Europeans and Americans living in Singapore, separated from their husbands and families and taken on a forced march through the jungles of Sumatra to an isolated prison camp. There, they would be tortured into submission and made to bow before the Emperor's war machine...

HAZEL HAMPTON
A timid young American, she would learn to walk the dangerous tightrope between survival and collaboration...
AUDREY ST. JOHN
The Pregnant mistress of an English officer, she was appalled by the squalid camp conditions-and humiliated that she would share them with her lover's wife...
GLORIA DENK
An Australian nurse who loved reckless adventure, she took risk and life-threatening risk-until she went too far...
DR. MARGARET SUTHERLAND
A prominent biographer and personal friend of Madame Chiang Kai-shek, she was forced to hide her identity or face death by firing squad...

In a haunting novel of the horrors of war and the strength of friendship, these indomitable women never cease to believe in freedom, even though they are...

GUESTS OF THE EMPEROR

Genres: Historical Fiction, World War II, Asia, Fiction, Historical, 20th Century

438 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

Reviews

[Kylie D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a powerful book that sees a group of women caught up in Singapore at the start of WW2 and taken to a Japanese POW camp in Sumatra. It follows their lives over the years of their interment. Not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm glad I have read it. However I doubt I'll ever want to pick the book up again.

[MAP · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel follows the lives of several women who find themselves in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in south east Asia during World War II.

This was especially interesting to read after having read The Naked Island, a biographical account of an Australian soldier also in a Japanese POW camp. A lot of it was very accurate to what he wrote about -- so accurate that I was surprised not to see The Naked Island listed as one of the author's sources for the book.

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book almost twenty years ago. I was a kid and I have no idea how I ended up picking this book up. I know exactly WHERE I picked it up and where I was when reading it, but why it called to me I don't know. What I do know is that this book spoke to me. I was enthralled by the story, by what the characters went through.

This novel taught me a lot of things.

1) History isn't as boring as I thought it was. Real people lived through some terrible and wonderful things. They had lives and loves. Turns out that if you can make history personal I'm much more interested in it. Even if its fictitious.

2) There is evil, real evil in our world. I mentioned I was young when I read this right? People do horrible things to other people. And mostly it gets glossed over unless you were the one living through it. People stand by and watch while humans are tortured and killed. They cheer for it. Or possibly worse yet, they pretend they don't see and they feel nothing for their fellow man who suffers. This broke my heart and I had only begun to see the edges of the depths of terror that man is capable of. I was a pretty sensitive kid. Just don't tell my younger self that.

3) People can find caring, loving communities anywhere. The women in this novel were able to form bonds and support each other in the worst of times. The scene where the guards demand women for sex and some of the old women volunteer to get the younger ones out of it moved me to tears. Its a scene that has stuck with me to the detail for almost twenty years. Clearly it was a winner in my mind. If volunteering for rape to save someone else isn't love I don't know what is.

4) Not everyone doing an awful job wants to be there nor do they necessarily want to do evil things. Some of the guards fragrantly broke rules for the prisoners. They showed kindness. They inflicted as little hurt as possible and formed relationships with the women they guarded. Not everyone (obviously) but some of them. They took risks to treat others with humanity. There were glimmers of hope from unexpected places.

5) This is the most awful of all, and terribly personal. Feel free to skip this one. I discovered that inherently awful things can be sexually stimulating. Not in reality, but if you don't think too closely about the people involved or use any empathy the description of a sex act can be exciting, even if you don't want it to be. Of course there are some consensual sex scenes in this novel too, and I wasn't conflicted about those one bit =) It was a terrifying thing for a 13 year old to discover. I wanted to be sick to my stomach, and I was. But I was intrigued, too.

I haven't read this book in at least 15 years (yes, I reread it several times) and I can still remember how I felt the first time I read it. I have vivid images of this book in my head that I'm sure I couldn't shake if I wanted to. To me, that makes a wonderful book. Even if I hadn't learned anything, which I clearly did. I can't say I'd recommend that a 13 year old pick this up, but it is certainly a worthwhile read.

[Jill Miclean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent HF story about civilians caught in Singapore during the early days of WWII and the subsequent Japanese invasion. Focusing on the women and children rounded up and sent to camps throughout SE Asia it's truly amazing what they went through not only in the early round ups but managing to survive over 3 years in camps. That anyone survived is a testament to the human will to survive. This book expertly details what it was like for civilians during that time. The author clearly has done her homework and lists her source material. Highly recommended.

[Misfit · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Excellent read. http://misfitandmom.wordpress.com/201...

[Kristi · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the fall of 1967 as a sophomore at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota I was privileged to participate in the Term in Thailand with 25 other students. We studied at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok - Buddhism, Southeast Asian history, art, literature, and political science. On the way to Bangkok we visited Japan and Hong Kong. Coming home included stops in Penang, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Guam. We were the only undergraduate study group in Southeast Asia - the closest program was in Japan. I have been an avid reader of World War II history and literature for more than 60 years. My father and most of my uncles served in the war in many roles - as a tank driver in Patton's army, a tail gunner who was killed over Germany, and a medic in the Pacific Theater. My reading, however, has largely been within the European Theater of operations. About 2 years ago I had a "DUH" moment. Why was I not reading about the Pacific War when I had visited so many important sites in that history?? I am trying to make up for my lack of knowledge. I have visited two locations of horror and death at the hands of the Japanese. The first is the bridge over the river Kwai at Kanchanaburi, Thailand. With an enormous pool of captive labor at their disposal, the Japanese forced approximately 200,000 Asian conscripts and over 60,000 Allied POWs to construct the Burma Railway. Among the Allied POWs were some 30,000 British, 13,000 Australians, 18,000 Dutch, and 700 Americans. Of the US personnel forced to work on the railway, 133 died. (Their remains were expatriated. ) This included personnel from USS Houston and the 131st Field Artillery Regiment of the Texas Army National Guard. The Americans were called the Lost Battalion as their fate was unknown to the United States for years after their capture. Near the bridge is the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, the main prisoner of war (POW) cemetery for victims of Japanese imprisonment while building the Burma Railway. . The cemetery contains 6,982 graves of British, Australian and Dutch prisoners of war, of whom 6,858 have been identified. I have walked through that cemetery and always remember the peace and beauty of the bougainvillea, and the graves and graves and graves. After contemplating the devastating loss of life in WWII, we were standing on the railroad bridge over the River Kwai when 3 American jets made a low pass - coming from or heading to Vietnam. Remember this was the fall of 1967. The Tet Offensive would be in the spring of 1968. I could not help but think of the new waste of lives and the fact that we never learn. I still recommend the 1957 movie, "The Bridge on the River Kwai", starring William Holden and Alec Guinness . Although it is not completely factual, it does capture the hardship of the slave labor to build the railway. Ironically upon awakening on our first day in Tokyo my roommate and I heard the "Colonel Bogey March" which was the theme song from the movie. We looked down upon a lower roof and saw Japanese workers doing morning exercises to the music. We wondered if they had any idea that the music was associated with Japanese atrocities for us.. I have walked through Fort Santiago, the last building in old Manila liberated by the Americans during the recapture of the Philippines. It had been used as a prison/ torture chamber / death house and was found with literally hundreds if not thousands of dead bodies inside. The main entrance when I was there was broken and enlarged to permit American tanks to enter the fort. One of the most difficult books that I have read so far in my Pacific Theater education is "Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila" by James M. Scott. Yamashita, the "Tiger of Malaya" had ordered his army to retreat into the jungle highlands because he believed he could not defeat the Americans in Manila. Rear Admiral Iwabuchi Sanji defied Yamashita’s orders to withdraw from the city and utilized his 18,000 men to massacre thousands of Filipino civilians. This book is very painful as it has many first-person accounts of the murders and rapes. I have also had the privilege or having known a survivor of the Bataan Death March as a friend. He did not wish to speak in great detail, but the one thing that I have never forgotten was the role of other soldiers to protect their comrades. He explained that they always tried to walk in threes with the weakest man in the middle supported by two stronger men on each side. He was not sent to Mukden the subject of this book.. .. I fell in love with Kyoto and Nara. The beautiful gardens and shrines... The city largely escaped the fire-bombing toward the end of the war. In my reading I was grateful to learn that though Kyoto had been at the top of the list for the atomic bomb, Secretary of War Stimson removed it because he had also fallen in love with this the city. One evening as a couple of friends and I were walking, we were stopped by 3 Japanese university students who offered us drinks in return for an opportunity to practice their English. 57 years later I remember one of the young men asking why the U.S. did not drop atomic bombs on North Vietnam. I could not believe that a citizen of the only country to experience such devastation would think it a good idea to use such a weapon... Finally I believe that anyone who seriously studies the Pacific War has an obligation to form an opinion about whether the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the best option to end the war. There are several factors that have led me to believe that this was the right decision. We were fire-bombing cities all over Japan - led by Curtis LeMay. Thousands of civilians were dying. Our knowledge of the effects of the atomic bombs was so limited that one proposal for the invasion of Japan involved dropping a bomb on an area and invading 24 hours later. We had no idea that we would be killing the American soldiers involved. Some theorists state that the fact that Russia had invaded Manchukuo meant that the Japanese would have surrendered soon. The Japanese were not that concerned about Russia. They also were not surprised. One has to remember that the Soviet Union had never conducted an amphibious landing during WWII, if ever. They had not trained troops for such an endeavor nor did they have any ships or transports for invasion. In Europe and especially the Pacific, the Americans had conducted dozens of water invasions and would have had to supply all the training and the equipment. Finally, even after the first bomb and even after Nagasaki there were still strong forces who did not want to surrender. A particularly militant faction attempted to seize the emperor and keep the war going. The death toll among the armed citizenry and both militaries would have been HUGE. We believed that the Japanese still had about 5,000 war planes - they actually had double that number. They also retrofitting old wooden planes as kamikaze weapons which would not show up on radar. Boats, many wooden, were also being set up with explosives to detonate on contact with a ship. I wish the atomic bombs had not been necessary, but I believe they were more humane than fire bombing, blockading and starving the country and the massive Allied and Japanese loss of life in an invasion......................... It does not bode well when a book begins with a common error / misconception about Japan and the Geneva Convention. Although a representative signed the 1929 convention, the policy was never ratified by the Japanese government. Japan never agreed to follow the Geneva Convention. Not an excuse for their atrocities, but still a FACT!!! Mukden was the largest fixed base POW camp with 2,040 internees at one point. ( More than 60,000 POWS were forced to work on the Thai / Burma or Death Rairoad, but camps moved as the length of the railway progressed. ) Men, not unlike some of the Jewish and other prisoners in Nazi concentration camps ( think of Mengele's twin studies ) were subjected to medical experimentation by Unit 731 commanded by Lieutenant General Shirō Ishii. Mitsubishi arranged for skilled aircraft mechanics and other metal workers from Bataan and Corregidor to be shipped to Manchuria - then Manchukuo - to build fighter planes. "Makes you want to go out an buy a Mitsubishi SUV..." Mitsubishi put the 1,993 men into airless cargo holds on the cargo ship Tottori Maru to sail from the Philippines to northern China. No prisoner transport vessels were marked as carrying POW's as prescribed by the Geneva Convention - remember never ratified by the Japanese government. The author cites an "anecdotal" report by one man that the ship was marked - ( I do not think a solid history book should rely up such reporting. ) The author also extensively reports that the officers got fat while the enlisted men starved - that the officers were skimming the best parts of the meals from the buckets. (Again this is based upon anecdotal complaints by 3 men.) Later, however, the cooking situation was described as being done by officers plus enlisted men who could supervise the quality of food delivered to the main group of POW's. Two other officers were reportedly drinking heavily. (In all my reading about Japanese POW camp for both military and civilian prisoners, I have never encounter so much back-biting and hatred among the captives. Because of the use of the "memories" of a few men, I found the credibility of the book to be questionable.) Chapter 7 - the author just confirmed what I have found in my reading about WWII POW's - In all the other camps except for Mukden, POW officers were held in high regard. We will never know if this was the only Japanese prison camp with dishonest officers or whether a small number of enlisted men were speaking of individual grievances. Typical of every Japanese POW camp, food was scarce, men were exploited and beaten, and many did not survive. Archival records indicate 1,420 Allied prisoners were held here, 1,193 of whom were liberated, and 224 of whom did not survive their captivity. Even though the Japanesedid not ratify almost all of the Geneva Convention, they did agree to the section dealing with Red Cross packages and mail.. They did not believe that any Japanese soldiers who surrendered or were wounded and captured were deserving of good treatment or Red Cross supplies. They were regarded as traitors and cowards. Interestingly and cold heartedly they happily accepted Red Cross food, medicine and other supplies which they kept for themselves. Having lived in Thailand and studied at Chulalongkorn University, I was very happy to learn that the first eyewitness reports to Allied Intelligence about the dire conditions in Japanese prison camps came via Thai students who were trained in the U. S. by the OSS to be spies, were secretly returned to strategic positions near the Thai Burma / Death Railroad. Yeah Thailand. Delegates to Mukden who traveled on behalf of the Red Cross were not allowed to question prisoners. Even when they requested to speak with Gerneral Wainright, he was not permitted to speak. Two prison escapes are discussed - one with a negative outcome and one with no known resolution. The author stressed that the men sabotaged the military planes and other supplies. The only detail provided was that when they laid a floor, they buried every tool they could in the cement. The author explains the dearth of first hand accounts to the fact that the POW's were forced by the American military to sign a non-disclosure agreement, so that anyone who wished to speak would be penalized by our own government. This is the first instance of a POW camp in my reading where this gag order is cited. Apparently the order was true, but there were POW's from other camps who spoke up about the abuses. I determined later that the Mukden prisoners were the only group forced to sign while still prisoners. Perhaps not all POW's from other sites were not as easily reached. Unfortunately the post-war trials in Japan were not as effective or thorough as those in Europe. On 16 August 1945, a six man Office of Strategic Services (OSS) team parachuted into Mukden. The first military to reach the camp were the invading Soviet army. The first Red Army troops arrived in Mukden on 19 August by air. Evacuation of American POWs from the Mukden area began shortly after the initial OSS team arrived and ended by mid-September. The first group left by air on 21 August, eighteen POWs needing immediate medical assistance. Another thirty medical cases were evacuated by air on 24 August. On 27 August General Wainwright and the other VIPs departed by air. But most of the POW's went by train from Mukden to the port of Darien, where they boarded US Navy hospital ships. Although this book was an interesting read, the narrative was drier (more statistics and analyses) and less compelling than other books I have read. I do not understand our government's efforts not to reveal the evils of Japanese prisons. According to the Tokyo Trial, 35,756 out of 132,134 Allied servicemen died in Japanese captivity, a percentage of 27.06. Accepted estimates for Soviet POW losses under German incarceration are around 3.3 million out of the 5.7 million taken prisoner (57.89%). For soldiers from the democracies captured by the Germans, the Tokyo Trial accepted a figure of 9,348 from 235,473 (3.97%). The percentage fatality rate for allied POWs under German incarceration was therefore in the order of 55%, unless, of course, one prefers to photoshop the Russians out of the war, which those who champion the 4% to 27% comparison choose to do. Cited on Japan Forward website. *********** I highly recommend the following books for those interested in Japanese POW camps. military atrocities and the post war trial: "Building the Death Railway: The Ordeal of American Pows in Burma, 1942-1945" Robert S. LaForte "Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia" Gary J. Bass "140 Days to Hiroshima: The Story of Japan's Last Chance to Avert Armageddon" David Dean Barrett James D. Hornfischer "Thailand and Japan's Southern Advance, 1940-1945" E. Bruce Reynolds. "Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila" by James M. Scott. "Rescue at Los Baños: The Most Daring Prison Camp Raid of World War II" Henderson, Bruce. Ship of Ghosts: The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of Her Survivors Hornfischer, James D. The Imperial Japanese Army: The Invincible Years 1941-42. Yenne, Bill Kristi & Abby Tabby

[Booknblues · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this ages ago but remember it being quite good. I am currently reading When We Had Wings which is along the same lines.

[Leanne Gossett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book about women in a Japanese POW camp during WW2

[Clayton Okeefe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book 3 times now over the past 25years. I absolutely love this book. The characters and story is truly amazing.

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guests of the Emperor is a historical novel about women who were held as POWs in the Philippines during WWII. It follows them for four years through many different internment camps. They are, for the most part, well off white women who have to learn to survive or die. The worst part is never knowing when or if their new terrifying life will come to an end.

This is one of the best historical novels I've ever read. I read it as a teenager (oh so many years ago) and it stuck with me. Re-reading it as an adult was a whole different experience. Maybe I understand a bit more about death and war, but I don't remember crying as much or being so gutted at the end.

Brooks has a great gift of characterization. It's a large and varied cast of characters that she writes and she keeps them all up in the air with ease. There are no flat or boring characters, every single one has different layers that peel off as the story develops. Even the smallest of roles. Some of the character's are based on actual women who wrote about their experiences after they got out.

There's a tiny bit of romance in it, but it's hardly the focus and used more as a tool to develop character's arc. Which is a refreshing pace when it comes to historical novels.

I am interested in reading some of the books she used in her research and learn how accurate her version of events are. A book that I will re-read and has spawned a whole new obsession of reading is something I will recommend to everyone.

[suz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Janice Brooks Young's historical novel leads me to think, as many of us are today, about the meaning of war and peace in a climate of global conflict.* I'm reflecting on humankind's inability to live peacefully, not to mention equitably, within the limits of earth's resources.

This novel is based on substantial research into WW II Sumatran internment camps for women. I’m not a historian so I can't comment on how closely it portrays living there. But I do intend to take my own advice this Thanksgiving week; let me think not only about my comfy life in America 2007 compared to theirs. I continue to think of ways other than misguided war and accompanying atrocities that we can create a just world where generosity of spirit is valued and domination and cruelty are not.

* This book like the Iraq war is profoundly disturbing.

[Dani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is just short of amazing. It had been a long time since I was completely engrossed in a story. It is a fine example of historical fiction. The story behind the movie Paradise Road is just part of this compelling story. How women learn to physically survive and emotionally come to terms with each other and themselves in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

[Siân · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do I love this book. It is such a good telling of a story of the lives of a group of women caught by the Japanese and sent to internment camps in Sumatra. I've read this book many times and it still stays with me, and I still love it. In parts horrifying, in parts sad, in parts empowering, the things that happened in Sumatra which are told in this story need to be heard. Never forget.

[Malia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn't until the end of this book that I realized how much I liked it. It took me awhile to get through it but at the end I was bawling for these women. I guess I felt I had gone through the journey with them. Cheesy, I know.

[Joslins · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book because of all the crude langauage (that I feel most of the women of the time wouldn't have used) and also because of the overly detailed totally unneccessary sex scenes. I was disappointed because I was really interested in the story.

[Vicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably the best historical fiction novel about World War II that I have ever read. Women who got caught behind enemy lines in Shanghai are taken prisoner by the Japanese. They must create a new life inside the prison.

[Shelley]

It's a good read: nice surprise ending I wasn't expecting. One raw, sexual scene near the beginning could have been left out since it appears to have been put in for graphic sake. I could recommend it to more people without that.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed research and good writing results in this painful and detailed book about US, Dutch, Australian, etc. women interned as POWs by Japanese during WWII. Gritty and not for the faint-hearted.

[Allie_oco]

Looks

[Dana Mees-athuring · Rating 5 out of 5]

Probably the best historical fiction you will read. Well researched and replete with bibliography!