A Gate in the Wall: A Pacific War POW's Secret Diary and a Family's Path Toward Reconciliation

This book shares the story of the Lindeijers, a Dutch colonial family in Indonesia, first during their time as captives of the Japanese during World War II and then during the postwar decades, as they struggled to come to terms with their wartime trauma. The protagonists speak, as much as possible, for themselves through their documents.

The father, in his prohibited POW diary, records harsh, brutal treatment but simultaneously reveals a level of complexity among his captors that is unusual...