''Three Came Home'' is a 1948 memoir written by Agnes Newton Keith, based on her experiences during the Japanese invasion of North Borneo. A film based on it was released in 1950 and featured

Claudette Colbert Claudette Colbert ( ; born Émilie Claudette Chauchoin; September 13, 1903July 30, 1996) was an American actress. Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures ...

in the lead role. Initially,

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was chosen for the role. Originally published in 1948 by London publisher Michael Joseph, it was republished by Eland in 1985, and Eland released a new edition in 2002.

Background

Keith had previously written ''Land Below the Wind''. Her husband, Harry Keith, was Conservator of Forests and Director of Agriculture in North Borneo. Their son George was born in 1940. When the Keiths were living in Borneo, it was attacked by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

and they were interned there from January 1942 to September 1945. During her internment at Kuching Internment camp along with her son George, Keith suffered from

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

and

typhoid Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...

. Her husband Harry was kept in a civilian men's camp.

Summary

Women had to work very hard. When a Lt. General was to visit the camp, Commander Nekata orders the women to clear a strip of land where formerly rubber trees were grown and plant potato cuttings. They work the whole night and Nekata gets promoted when the Lt. General visited but the potato cuttings died very soon. At the camp, Keith is assaulted by a guard and also tortured. This results in a twisted arm and broken ribs. The Japanese are aware that she was a writer and is occasionally given a little extra food. Australian soldiers interned in a nearby camp send $50 to the women's camp through a Roman Catholic priest. Though initially they did not want to take the money, they later accepted and sent a letter of thanks to them. The condition of women is very poor and lack of sanitation and proper food made many of them sick. When

Tatsuji Suga Lieutenant-Colonel (22 September 1885 – 16 September 1945) of the Imperial Japanese Army was the commander of all prisoner-of-war (POW) and civilian internment camps in Borneo, during World War II. A war criminal, Suga died by suicide five ...

met her, he ordered her to write ''The Life and Thoughts of an Internee''. She agreed but titled her work ''Captivity''. She prepared notes separately for another work in minute handwriting on margins of old newspapers, reverse of labels and Chinese tobacco papers. She hid them in George's toys, pillows, sleeping mat and also in tins.

Reception

W. G. Rogers called the book "sometimes shocking and often inspiring". Laura Scott Meyers wrote that the book " asa detailed and unvarnished account of what war was like for internees and prisoners of war". It was chosen by The Book of the Month Club as its Book of the Month for April 1947. David Judy praised Keith's humor and wrote that the book gave "a sense of what a truly successful marriage can be like even though the worst of circumstances arise." Joe Langston noted that " eith'swriting asstrangely free from any hate of a particular people".

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Dorothy Canfield Fisher (February 17, 1879 – November 9, 1958) was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early 20th century. She strongly supported women's rights, racial equality, and lifelong educat ...

praised the book by saying "To read this book is like living through an experience rather than just reading about it". Joyce Nienstedt wrote that it was much more than a war book. Louise Parks Banes opined that "No more gallant story has ever been written than ''Three Came Home''. According to ''The Gallup Independent'', " eith'saccount asone of the most stirring which has come out of the war".

References

External links

''Three Came Home''
at

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