The Bird in the Bamboo Cage

I absolutely loved this book. I thought the emotional pulse pitch perfect and loved the characters of Nancy, Mouse, Joan and Elspeth their teacher. Their voices as they navigate life after the imprisionment of a whole school in China during WWII and Japanese occupation are haunting. I thought the novel beautifully structured reaching back from 1975 to those terrible events, vividly depicted throughout. In fact, the story was so fascinating that when I find time I shall read further. Hazel Gaynor reaches deep into the heart of her characters . She makes them so alive and multi dimensional you feel they are right beside you. I also loved the sunflower imagery and the girl guide aspect channelled throughout the novel. Above all , despite the difficulties , horrors , hunger and struggles I loved the optimism and stoicism that prevailed. It's a superbly researched book and one that will remains in my thoughts and in my heart for years to come. A book to treasure.

This was a great read. I have to say Hazel Gaynor is a go to author for me. I have read 5 of her books and none have been below a 4* read for me. This book I read in 3 days. About a school of children in China who are taken to internment camps upon the Japanese invasion of China during WW2. It focuses on several of the girls at this school who also happen to be Girl Guides and their teacher. We also see them after the war at a reunion. It was essentially about how they coped in this situation and gave me ‘Tenko’’ ( 1980’s tv series) vibes. I loved it. 5*

I agree with the reviewer who found this book childish - I would think about 10 years old would be a suitable age. I wondered if I'd bought a child's book by mistake? And the obsession with Girl Guides which runs throughout was really irritating to me, and just confirmed my opinion that this should be described as a book for children.

Hhmmm, not sure what to say really. I was hoping to get much more out of this than the continual dib dib dib of the girl guides,which is an ongoing annoyance throughout. I was hoping for Tenko, I was hoping for strong women coping in appalling conditions. I was hoping for some truth about this awful subject that doesn't seem to get written about much compared to other areas of WW2.I bought this because I was blown away by 'The Lighthouse Keepers Daughter', where the writing is almost poetic and taught me so much about the two eras and the strong female light keepers.However this seems to have been written by someone else! It was tedious with not a lot going on really. I couldn't engage with any of the characters and the lack of atmosphere and detail made it feel like it could have been on a field anywhere other than the China. Such a shame!!!

What an engrossing story this is if you’re looking for a world to lose yourself in, a world more horrific and frightening than we can ever imagine. A war story that is at times both traumatic and heart-warming, ‘The Bird in the Bamboo Cage’ by Hazel Gaynor tells the story of a teacher and pupil interned in China during World War Two, a story often forgotten and seldom told.Based on the true story of a real school – the China Inland Mission’s Chefoo School in Yantai, Shandong province in northern China – as the Japanese army invades and school life is changed overnight. Gaynor tells her fictionalised story through the viewpoints of teacher Elspeth Kent and pupil Nancy ‘Plum’ Plummer. Elspeth is struggling to write a letter of resignation, intending to return home and join the war effort, when war arrives at the school gates. At first Chefoo School proudly continues to operate under armed guard but after the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbour in December 1941 and the entry of America into the war, the school is moved to Temple Hill internment camp and later to Weihsien. At each step, privations, hardships, hunger, threat and sexual exploitation threaten teachers, pupils and the wider camp community.Elspeth and Plum offer different perspectives on what is happening and we see the growing friendship and respect between the two women, because Plum starts off a child and grows as a woman unable to remember her mother, unsure if she will ever see her parents again. The teachers truly are ‘in loco parentis’ when the school is relocated and the children learn to support each other, to endure hardship by recognising there is always someone worse off than you and that everyone is a person in their own right [pupils, teachers, guards, fellow internees, night soil women] with their own hopes, dreams and fears. They face hunger, theft and personal attack. Gaynor portrays the school’s protestant ethic with a light hand, instead making Elspeth Brown Owl of Chefoo’s Guides and using the Girl Guide Handbook’s mottos as a thematic skeleton. For each new challenge they meet there is a guiding motto to help them face what must be done.I am not a lover of all ends being neatly tied and certainly this book is not perfect – chunks of time pass in brief summary paragraphs and at times the action seems delayed with detail of the school day – but Gaynor has created a world of prisoners and enemy that made me want to read on. Of course, we know how the war ended but we so want to know what happens to each pupil and teacher.Essentially this is a novel about the strength and value of friendship and loyalty, the love that binds people together and enables them to survive horrific situations.