Under the Java Moon
Heather B. Moore
Under the Java Moon highlights a little-known part of WWII history and the impact of war on Indonesia, its people, and the more than 100,000 Dutch men, women, and children who were funneled into prison camps and faced with the ultimate fight for survival.
History tells us all about ourselves one way or another. ‘Under the Java Moon’ written by Heather B. Moore is based on a true story. It is the story of Rita Vischer and her childhood in a Japanese internment camp on Java Island during World War II. Rita and her family suffer under Japanese rule and being Dutch at this time has a lot of sadness for her
and her family who at various times find happiness any way they can when dealing with illness and death. Heather B. Moore wrote a novel that depicts visually what the Dutch went through on Java at this point in history. She has described Java Island, the camp, as well as other aspects of the story very well. From the prologue through the afterword and before each chapter a short paragraph describing the real internment camp. ‘Under the Java Moon’ is a very impressive novel that intertwines all the characters into a cohesive whole, showing how all family and friends’ relationships change and grow even in the three and half years during World War II.
Based on a true story, this gripping WWII novel captures the resilience, hope, and courage of a Dutch family who is separated during the war when the Japanese occupy the Dutch East Indies.
Java Island, 1941
Six-year-old Rita Vischer cowers in her family’s dug-out bomb shelter, listening to the sirens and waiting for a bomb to fall. Her charmed life on Java—living with other Dutch families—had always been peaceful, but when Holland declares war on Japan and the Japanese army invades Indonesia, Rita’s family is forced to relocate to a POW camp, and Rita must help care for her little brother, Georgie.
Mary Vischer is three months pregnant when she enters the Tjideng women’s camp with thousands of other women and children. Her husband, George, is somewhere on the Java Sea with the Dutch Navy, so she must care alone for her young children, Rita and Georgie, and her frail mother-in-law. The brutal conditions of the overcrowded camp make starvation, malaria, and dysentery a grim reality. Mary must do everything she can to keep her family alive.
George Vischer survives the bombing of his minesweeper but feels little hope floating on a small dinghy in the Java Sea. Reaching the northern tip of the Thousand Islands would be a miracle. Focusing on of the love of his life, Mary, and his two children. He battles against the sea and merciless sun. He’ll do whatever it takes to close the divide between him and his family, even if it means risking being captured by the Japanese.
2023ISBN: 978-1-63993-153-8Shadow Mountain Publishing367 pages
Visits: 24
