Things That Must Not Be Forgotten

A Childhood in Wartime China.

Set against the dramatic backdrop of China between the wars, this book tells the story of Kwan's life as a young half-caste boy in a Beijing household in the 1930s. He is an awkward, clumsy boy, abandoned by his Swiss mother and overwhelmed by the intellect and power of his father.

China is about to be invaded by the Japanese, and when they finally do, with catastrophic force, young Kwan's life is thrown into further turmoil. He is spared the worst of it, though, thanks to his father's well-cultivated connections as a railway administrator.

However, Kwan's father is active with the resistance. The family is forced to move between houses to survive the war years, but when Japan surrenders to the Allies, even worse is to come in the shape of the warring Chinese factions, the Communists and the Kuomintang. Kwan's father is arrested for being a collaborationist with the enemy, and he sets out to write down "things that must not be forgotten", i.e. details of his resistance efforts, to save himself from execution.

David, at age twelve, was sent to relatives in Shanghai before being spirited out of the country, not knowing if he'd ever see his family again.

'Things That Must Not Be Forgotten' balances the sweet epiphanies of childhood against the grim machinations of war, self-preservation against brutal authority, love of family against love of country. It's a book that will stay in readers' hearts and minds long after they've turned the final, wrenching page.

Winner of the Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize 2000.