Eighteen-year-old Flora is recovering from "nervous exhaustion" in the sanatorium at her boarding school. She is supposed to rest. But the rest brings back her childhood memories of living in Borneo, where she encountered people and events shaped by the tragedies of the Second World War, when the island was occupied by Japanese soldiers and their concentration camps. Award-winning author Adèle Geras weaves the captivating story of a young woman who, by coming to terms with her memories of the past, is able to move on to a new phase of her life.