Blight (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781923517141)

His confession taught me that people are not always what we assume them to be; that we form our views on what we see, not necessarily on what we understand.

It's early 1941, twelve months before the Fall of Singapore, when Australian infantrymen Clarence Roberts and Alexander Campbell disembark to join an imagined heroic campaign to defend British Malaya against the anticipated Japanese invasion.

Following the inglorious capitulation of the Allied forces, the men find themselves struggling for their survival, sanity and humanity - first in Changi prison, then in Outram Road gaol.

As shameful secrets from their former lives are progressively revealed, the line between right and wrong becomes increasingly blurred. Can disclosure of their past conduct withstand society's enduring condemnation - or will posterity look upon their behaviour differently?

Set against the wilting moral fibre of the British Empire's colonial beneficiaries in the Far East, Blight is a poignant story of malevolence, revenge, endemic racism and incremental decay, as well as a compelling meditation on the complex and elusive nature of forgiveness.