Goodbye Burma' tells the dramatic and moving story of a family caught up in a critical moment in history, as Burma is bombed and overrun by Japanese troops during World War Two. It follows the fortunes of different family members as they join the hundreds of thousands of others who leave behind their lives and homes, many trekking out on treacherous routes through the mountains to the safety of India. Drawing on her own family's documents and memories, and on much careful research, Jean Ellis reimagines their experiences, as the various characters carry with them their personal dilemmas and preoccupations, their loves and losses. Candid in its portrayal of the social divisions and administrative failures of the collapsing British raj, Goodbye Burma is both a warm-hearted, deeply human story and a powerful tale of end of empire.

Literature