Book Description

Singapore. 1940. John Garrett, a young army doctor is impatient for the War to arrive in the Far East. He longs for the excitement of battle and a chance to prove his skills on the front line. He is not prepared for surrender or imprisonment. Based on a true story, The Mind’s Garden explores the intensity of wartime relationships and the urge to discover value, meaning and purpose when faced with adversity. It is not a typical POW narrative, but instead explores how men cope when their freedom is snatched from them.The story also follows the lives of others, each of whom makes discoveries about themselves; Bea, a nurse with whom John forms his first mature relationship; Richard Henderson who has joined the army to escape a scandal; Roger Lester who sees the war as one big adventure and a chance to make his parents proud of him; Alan Rose, a bombardier, whose down to earth ideas have an impact on his fellow captives. And all the while, back in war-torn England, Min, John Garrett’s mother, has to find her own way of surviving the long years of separation.Alison Jesson’s father was one of 400 men held in a propaganda camp in Korea which the Japanese set up in order to convince the west they were treating their prisoners well, and this novel has been based on his letters, diaries and experiences