Reluctant Heroes

Helen Evans

It was 1941 when Bill McDonald waved goodbye from the troop train. His twelve-year-old son, Russell, had promised to look after Mum and the girls while his father was away, and surely the war would be over in a few months. But Singapore, the impregnable island fortress, fell to the Japanese and Bill became a Prisoner of War. With courage, laughter and heartache, Bill and his mates struggled with starvation and disease to survive in Borneo. Reluctant Heroes is also Russell’s story as he grows up in a rural town, while his Father is away.

Inspired by the letters the author’s father had written to the family before the fall of Singapore in 1942, Helen Evans set about learning more. Her father was one of those reluctant heroes who inspired her to write this novel.