The Railway Man

Description

This is the story of innocence betrayed, of passion and curiosity about the world of machines turned nightmarish and punished by the cruelty of which only humans are capable. It is also a story of survival and courage. Eric Lomax was tortured by the Japanese on the Burma-Siam Railway. Fifty years later he met one of his tormentors.

Promotion info

'The passion for trains and railways is, I have been told, incurable. I have also learned that there is no cure for torture'

Reviews

What a great book. What a great man -- Harry Ritchie Daily Mail Forget the grueling films, just read the brilliant books Independent This beautiful, awkward book tells the story of a fine and awkward man. Here, I think, is an account that rises above mere timeliness and comes near to being a classic of autobiography -- Ian Jack Guardian When I turned to the book, the complexity of Lomax's emotions came alive and burned off the page Independent Of all the billions of words that have been written about the Second World War, with the exception of Churchill's Nobel Prize winning history, it is not an exaggeration to say there is no account of it more worth reading that this. Wistfully romantic, historically important, startling, horrifying and ultimately electrifyingly uplifting, The Railway Man is as indispensable as any book can be. -- Tom Peck Independent

Author description

Eric Lomax was born in 1919. During the Second World War he was captured and tortured by the Japanese Army and forced to work on the notorious Burma-Siam railway. He met and forgave his torturer in 1995. He died in October 2012.