Dimensions
160 x 230 x 10mm
Margot Turner's tale of survival is so unusual and dramatic
that it inspired the 1980s television series Tenko. The
cargo ship on which she was evacuated from Singapore in 1942
was shelled, leaving her on a makeshift raft with sixteen
other survivors. One by one they perished, leaving her
alone, burnt black by the sun, and suffering from heat
exhaustion and dehydration. Discovered by a Japanese
destroyer and imprisoned on Banka Island, Turner was beaten
and tortured, before being taken to the notorious Palembang
jail. Here, crammed with murderers and rapists in a filthy
cell, she spent six months, living in daily fear of joining
the many who were noisily tortured and executed. In this,
the first biography for forty years, Penny Starns describes
the often horrific, but occasionally heart-warming,
experiences of this unbreakable woman who, not content with
surviving the war, went on to become a brigadier and Chief
Military Nurse. Using recently released material from The
National Archives and Turner's own words, she re-analyses
the Pacific conflict against a backdrop of one woman's
incredible fortitude and strength, and brings the story of a
remarkable woman to life.
