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- Paperback 240 pages (April 1992)
- Publisher: Time Warner Paperbacks
- ISBN: 0708854133
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The
Forests of the Night
I wanted to write a novel which had at its heart a dark and terrible
secret – and not to reveal the nature of that secret
until the very last page. This book is set in the prison camps
of the Burma Railway in World War Two. There are almost no female
characters, the action takes place in Israel, London and Thailand,
and moves between the present day and the war, and between first
and third person narratives. The identity of the modern, ‘I’ figure
is crucial to the dreadful secret which links the various
men involved. The research was fascinating, if harrowing. I’d
lived in the Far East as a child, and now I went back to visit
Changi Prison, and the infamous Death Railway itself. I also spoke
to many ex-POWs who were extraordinarily generous with their time,
and their painful memories. This was the quickest I’ve ever
written a book. Once I’d done the research I produced it
in about four months – it seemed to spring fully-armed from
my head. The book sold only modestly
at the time – too different, I suspect – but it’s
still out there, and remains
one of my favourites.
Oh, and the title - remember Blake’s ‘Tiger, tiger’?
A tiger plays a key role here.
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