I really enjoyed this book, and it went right along with The Zookeeper's Wife, which I just finished. Kitty, the author, grew up in Indonesia, where she lived an idyllic life with her family. Then World War II broke out, and the Japanese invaded. Suddenly her life was turned around. She was a young child at the time, but experienced some great challenges.

I just loved this book. I was amazed at the courage shown by her mother. In one really amazing scene, her mother stands up to the Japanese. They have commandeered their home and allowed her family to stay in two rooms. Meanwhile they are waiting to hear news of her father, who is fighting with rebels and is a wanted man. Her mother gives birth with the help of her teenage daughter. Just days later, she is forced to make her way to a town where her husband is being held prisoner. She waits without food for two days, along with her newborn, then is interrogated by the Japanese. Then she has to walk home.

While this book contains some sobering accounts of wartime violence, it also has stories of compassion, from the clerk who smuggles some food into the mother while waiting for her interrogation to begin, to the nanny who risks her life to bring Kitty her favorite doll and treasures from home. While it is written by an LDS writer, the book is full of her love for both her Christian parents and the Muslim people who helped her family when they were in need. I highly recommend this one. ( )