Changi Prison

The vast majority of the novel is set inside Changi, a large Japanese-run POW camp complex located deep in the jungle on the eastern tip of Singapore Island. Built before the start of the Second World War as a prison, Changi was originally designed to hold up to 2,000 criminals when it was full. At the time the novel takes place – in 1945 near the end of the war – 8,000 POWs have been crowded into Changi. Most of the prisoners are British or Australian, although a small number of men of other nationalities are held in the camp, including twenty-five American soldiers. Since the prison camp is so overcrowded, sanitary conditions are terrible. Due to the lack of adequate drugs and medical supplies, men die every day of common illnesses and minor infections that could be easily cured in the outside world. The Japanese provide just enough in the way...