After several months in Australia, Susan was notified by the Malayan Agent for Tokyo Cables that Reggie was interned in the civilian camp in Changi, Singapore. This came first as a relief then a source of anxiety to Susan.

Time dragged for Evie. It was not that she disliked Western Australia – the climate was pleasant after the mugginess of Penang and the beaches a welcome playground for the children – but she felt displaced, rootless. Neither she nor Susan wanted to risk the long sea voyage to Britain, knowing the perils of U-boats and airborne attacks. After their experiences in Penang they were grateful to be away from the main theatres of war.

Three months after the nuclear bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the subsequent Japanese surrender, Evie returned to Malaya. Susan had left for England as soon as Victory was declared in Europe in May 1945.

Meeting Mary Helston again shocked Evie to the core. Approaching the bungalow in George Town where the teacher had lived with her parents, Evie was anxious and unsure whether she would find anyone there. The closed shutters and neglected garden reinforced these doubts. The figure who opened the door caused her to gasp.

Mary Helston was emaciated. Her arms and her legs were scarred and discoloured and her skin hung from her bones with barely any flesh. Dark rings circled her hollowed eyes and her cotton dress billowed about her, many sizes too large for her stick-like frame. Mary’s previously thick lush hair was thin as a baby’s, cropped short and choppy.

‘Evie.’ The voice was flat. She gave a hollow laugh. ‘I know. I look hideous. Would you believe I’ve already put on almost a stone. You should have seen me the day we were liberated. Come in.’

She led Evie into the drawing room at the back of the modest house. It was cool in there, the shutters and French doors were shut to keep out the light. Evie couldn’t help remembering how they used to be always open so that the garden seemed part of the house.

‘Every day I get a little better. They say it will take time. It took more than three years to get into this state so I can’t expect to get well in just a few months.’

‘Your parents?’

‘Dead.’

‘Oh Mary, I’m so sorry.’ Evie felt tears welling up inside her.

‘We left it too late to get away from Singapore. I volunteered at the hospital. Mum didn’t want to leave without Dad. He was determined to do his bit. And no one thought Singapore would fall. When Mum and I finally got on a ship, the Japs intercepted us in the Straits of Malacca and we were arrested. We found out later Dad was in Changi from where he was sent on to a forced labour camp and died there. Mum and I were together but she died just six months before liberation. Dad had been due to retire this year. He was reasonably healthy and could have had a long life, but they killed him with hard labour, starvation and disease. Mum was only fifty-eight.’