The classic and gripping story of a British boy who endures four years of brutal hardship in a Japanese prison camp during World War II. This reissued edition includes an introduction by John Lanchester. Based on J.G. Ballard's childhood, the book offers an extraordinary glimpse into a boy's life in Japanese-occupied Shanghai during the war. It is a compelling and mesmerizingly powerful novel of war, hunger and survival, internment camps and death marches. It combines heartbreaking honesty with an almost hallucinatory vision of a world out of balance. Grounded in the author's disturbing experiences of war, it is considered one of the most important novels of the twentieth century. This edition is part of a new commemorative series of Ballard's works, featuring introductions by admirers such as Zadie Smith, Rivka Galchen, Hari Kunzru, and Martin Amis, and brand-new cover designs by artist Stanley Donwood.