Histon Author’s New Book: In Kinabalu’s Shadow

In Kinabalu’s Shadow -An exciting, touching and thought-provoking novel by Histon author Steve Morris.

New Book by Histon author Steve Morris

In the 1960s Steve Morris lived and worked as a volunteer in North Borneo (now Sabah, Malaysia)where most of the book is set. While there he met many people, both locals and expatriates, who had direct experience of the Japanese occupation of the island during World War Two. This novel is based on their reminiscences.
The author’s personal knowledge of the island and its’ varied people shines through the book and brings it to life. I confess I was not too pleased to be asked to read another “World War Two” book but I soon forgot my prejudices and become involved in the lives of the characters.

Australian Tom Field takes his new bride Mary to live on the copra plantation he manages in British North Borneo. He introduces her to the beauty of the island and its fascinating inhabitants. She has to get used to having servants and to how to behave with the different strata of society: European colonials, Chinese shopkeepers, native people in the towns and on the plantation and the tribes in the interior.

Once Mary becomes accustomed to it, life in Borneo is good. After a while, however, the war which seemed so distant in Europe threatens to affect them as the Japanese start to move. While the Field family return to the safety of Sydney for the birth of their second child the Japanese invade Singapore and overrun North Borneo. Europeans in Borneo are taken to internment camps and British and Australian soldiers captured in Singapore end up in POW camps where they are treated brutally by the guards.

Tom is recruited for secret work and returns to Borneo. Linking up with his friends from the head-hunter tribes, he becomes part of the resistance which assists the Australian 9th Division in the liberation of the island. It is not as simple as it sounds.

Steve Morris presents a wonderful insight into the life in North Borneo under cruel Japanese occupation. I was totally captivated by the different characters and their struggles. Knowing the ending of the story (the Japanese lose) from the beginning didn’t spoil the suspense. It is a story which shows vividly what it was like for the ordinary people of Borneo and how important it is for ordinary people to stand up for what they hold dear and not just rely on the military.

It is a book I enjoyed reading and one I would happily read again.

In Kinabalu’s Shadow is available in paperback from Amazon and all good bookshops RRP £7.99. Also as an e-Book from Authors-on-line £3.99 ISBN – 978-07552-1198-2

- reviewed by Paula Dean