King Rat

The debut novel by American writer James Clavell tells of the harsh life of prisoners in a Japanese POW camp in Singapore. How can you preserve your dignity under unbearable conditions? What is a person capable of when pushed to the absolute limit? Clavell ponders all of this with firsthand knowledge, because the novel is based on real events: during the war, the author himself was a prisoner in the very camp described in the text, and one of the characters is the author’s alter ego.

“King Rat,” the first novel in Clavell’s “Asian Saga,” won over readers thanks to its dramatic and engaging narrative and vivid, bright characters. Discover an unknown side of World War II!