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Empire of the Sun
A boy in Shanghai is cut off from his parents when Japan takes the city
1984Steady paceDark
A British boy in wartime Shanghai
J. G. Ballard's novel is told through Jim, a British boy living in Shanghai when Japan attacks in December 1941. Separated from his parents, he must find a way to survive and is later held in a civilian camp. It draws on Ballard's own childhood in Shanghai, and was made into a film by Steven Spielberg.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who enjoy stories set firmly in a real time and place.
More about this book
Who
Jim, a young English boy in Shanghai.
World
Shanghai and a civilian internment camp, 1941 to 1945.
What makes it different
The story grows out of the author's own wartime childhood.
Feel
Vivid and unsettling.
Facts
Genre
Historical Fiction · World War II · Shanghai · Childhood
Length
352 pages · ≈ 10 h
About the author
J. G. Ballard1 book on Tori BooksJ. G. Ballard (1930 to 2009) was an English novelist, born in Shanghai.Also in the collection: Best World War II Fiction
The Nightingale
Sarah's Key
Lilac Girls
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
The Book Thief
Suite Française
The Invisible Bridge
All the Light We Cannot See
Fugitive Pieces
Sophie's Choice