Historical Fiction · MelancholicA British war hero tours postwar Japan in 1947 and falls into a love story with an Australian teenager
The Great Fire
A British war veteran travels through postwar Asia and meets a young woman in Japan
In 1947, Aldred Leith, a decorated British war veteran of about thirty-two, is traveling through postwar Asia to write a book. In Japan he is billeted in a compound run by a boorish Australian brigadier and his scheming wife. There he meets their two children, a brilliant, sickly young man and his adoring sister, and he is charmed by them. His friendship with the family leads to a love story, and the novel follows him on to Hong Kong, England and New Zealand.
More about this book
Who
Aldred Leith, a British veteran, his friend Peter Exley, an Australian investigating Japanese war crimes, and Helen Driscoll, an Australian teenager.
World
Japan during the 1947 occupation, then Hong Kong, England and New Zealand.
What makes it different
It is Shirley Hazzard's first novel since The Transit of Venus, in 1980.
Feel
Elegant and sad. It won the 2003 National Book Award for Fiction and the 2004 Miles Franklin Award.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- The Great FireWikipedia