The usually sunny skies of Sumatra are black with the acrid smoke of an oil field fire. Although barely a teenager, Hanny Londt-Shultz has strong suspicions that her geologist father may be responsible for this preemptive act of defiance against invaders who are sure to arrive within weeks. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the people of the Dutch East Indies know that the Japanese will not ignore the country’s rich natural resources. As Dutch citizens, Hanny’s family also understands that sooner or later the Japanese will come for them. In the middle of an April night, the Londt-Shultz family is escorted from their privileged life and comfortable home and brusquely transported to internment camps—Mammy and the children to one, Pappy to another.

The Japanese labor camps are full of starvation and disease that are only intensified by a grinding daily routine of forced labor for young and old alike. But through the recognition of small miracles, the members of the Londt-Shultz family, though damaged, endure, and in spite of life-threatening challenges become saviors among their peers and courageous examples to their captors. You won’t forget this incredible and uplifting true story of the power of hope and faith in the face of insurmountable odds.