Rooted as it is in the author's own disturbing experience of war in our time, it is one of a handful of novels by which the twentieth century will be not only remembered but judged. It blends searing honesty with an almost hallucinatory vision of a world thrown utterly out of joint. Ballard's own childhood, this is the extraordinary account of a boy's life in Japanese-occupied wartime Shanghai - a mesmerising, hypnotically compelling novel of war, of starvation and survival, of internment camps and death marches. One of the ten books - novels, memoirs and one very unusual biography - that make up our Matchbook Classics' series, a stunningly redesigned collection of some of the best loved titles on our backlist.īased on J. He is revered as one of the most important writers of fiction to address the consequences of twentieth-century technology.The classic, heartrending story of a British boy's four year ordeal in a Japanese prison camp. Ballard (1930-2009) was the author of numerous books, including Concrete Island, The Kindness of Women, and Crash. 'An outstanding novel.a classic adventure story.'Ībout the Author J.G. 'An incredible literary achievement.Brilliant.' 'A profound and moving work of the imagination.' Ballard's enduring novel of war and deprivation, internment camps and death marches, and starvation and survival is an honest coming-of-age tale set in a world thrown utterly out of joint. Imprisoned in a Japanese concentration camp, he is witness to the fierce white flash of Nagasaki, as the bomb bellows the end of the war.and the dawn of a blighted world. In streets full of chaos and corpses, a young British boy searches in vain for his parents. Shanghai, 1941-a city aflame from the fateful torch of Pearl Harbor. To survive, he must find a strength greater than all the events that surround him. Jim is separated from his parents in a world at war. Book Synopsis The classic, award-winning novel, made famous by Steven Spielberg's film, tells of a young boy's struggle to survive World War II in China.

Empire of the Sun by J.G. Ballard