Escape to Pagan: The True Story of One Family's Fight to Survive in World War II Occupied Asia

2016 | Biography

A gripping true story of survival set in Hong Kong and Burma, as one family struggles against overwhelming odds in World War Two. Divided by war, in order to see each other again they must overcome terrible danger. The beautiful landscape of Burma and the tragedy of war are evocatively portrayed in this haunting and moving book.Hong Kong. 1941. The Japanese have invaded the island with overwhelming force. Leading an attack on Golden Hill, Jack Devereux of the Royal Scots Regiment is shot through the head. A Japanese officer attempts to decapitate him, in order to blood his samurai sword; waking momentarily, Jack kills his would-be executioner. His head swarming with maggots, he survives capture as Japanese soldiers are both impressed and fascinated by his wounds. Alive, albeit in a dangerously precarious physical state, he then goes on to experience and escape the horrific and tragic incident of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru, in which hundreds of POWs drown, or succumb to the sharks of the South China Sea, and he goes on to experience the mines of Nagasaki and the atom bomb.Burma, 1942. Jack s wife Kate Devereux, her infant son (the author) and mother Harriet desperately try to avoid the unstoppable advance of the Japanese; they flee their home, taking only what they can carry, and walk the jungles foraging for food while avoiding predators, snakes and armed bandits alike. Terrified that Kate s marriage certificate to a Scotsman will be discovered by the Japanese, they adopt the guise of the Mons Burmese tribe. The once prosperous family becomes destitute and starving. Their chance of survival was slim; multitudes of people like the Devereux s fleeing the Japanese died of exposure and starvation, or were waylaid by bandits or killed in bombing raids. They are kept alive by the author s incredible grandmother, a strong-willed woman with a proud bearing, able to speak fluent Japanese as well as pass herself off as a native Burmese. Their destination is the deserted and mystic medieval city of Pagan deep in the jungle where the Japanese have declined to invade. The beautiful but deadly landscape of Burma is the setting for their adventure-filled story."

Brian Devereux (Author)