ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

This novel draws on my father’s memoirs and his few oral stories from the Second World War. While this is a fictional work, nearly all the core incidents in the narrative are based on real events. Unlike twelve-year-old Chung-Man, my father was only nine at the time. As J.G. Ballard often said when asked about his “extraordinary childhood” that inspired Empire of the Sun, experiences such as these in Asia and Europe were the norm rather than the exception.

 

Writing is not as solitary as people say it is. I owe a huge debt to my friend and fellow author David Annandale for his constant encouragement and to Rozelle Srichandra for her support. I’m also greatly indebted to both my agent Robert Lecker and my editor at GLE, Bethany Gibson, who believed in my initial manuscript and saw what it could become.