This is an account of the horrors of battle, imprisonment and survival as seen through the eyes of a young doctor. Now eminent surgeon Rowley Richards, was then a young doctor in the militia when war broke out but went to Malaya with 8 Division.

   When Singapore fell, Richards became a POW and, as a medical officer, found himself tending to other prisoners in shocking conditions. His diary recorded the horrors he witnessed as well as the courage, humour and mateship of his fellow prisoners. He buried his writings in a bottle in a soldier's grave and made a map of the site which, remarkably, stayed intact until war’s end.

      Dr Richards' memoir also describes a vigorous and busy post-war career as a doctor. An engagingly personal story, it's also a reflection on humanity and on the will to survive.