New Japanese Edition Of Barbed Wire And Cherry Blossoms Out Now

Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Cowra Breakout

A new Japanese edition of Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by acclaimed Australian author Dr Anita Heiss is out now.

The release marks the 80th anniversary of the breakout which took place on August 5,1944 by Japanese prisoners of war who were housed in the detention camp in Cowra, New South Wales.

In the novel, the breakout is the backdrop to a love story between a Japanese man and a Wiradjuri woman.

The story is set in August 1944 when over 1,000 Japanese soldiers break Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Cowra Breakoutout of their prison compound on the fringes of Cowra.

Many are killed or recaptured, and some take their own lives.

But one soldier, Hiroshi, manages to escape.

At nearby Erambie Station, an Aboriginal mission, Banjo Williams, father of five and proud man of his community, discovers Hiroshi, distraught and on the run. Unlike most of the townsfolk who dislike and distrust the Japanese, the people of Erambie choose compassion and other Hiroshi refuge. Mary, Banjo’s daughter, is intrigued by the softly spoken stranger, and charged with his care.

For the community, life at Erambie is one of restriction and exclusion – living under Acts of Protection and Assimilation, and always under the ruthless eye of the mission Manager. On top of wartime hardships, families live without basic rights.

Love blossoms between Mary and Hiroshi, and they each dream of a future together. But how long can Hiroshi be hidden safely and their bond kept a secret?

Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms was first published in English in 2016 (Simon & Schuster) to great critical acclaim, and was placed highly in the New South Wales, Queensland and Dublin International Literary Awards.

Still selling strongly in English, the newly translated Japanese edition features new cover art and with it, an opportunity to be discovered by new audiences.

Dr Anita Heiss said: “While at Pearl Harbour in 2014, I was intrigued by the interest Japanese tourists demonstrated in military history as portrayed by the Americans and I considered how back home the Japanese breakout at Cowra had been documented by the Australians rather than the Japanese.

I also didn’t recall much, if any of the history of World War II mentioning the local Aboriginal community at Erambie where my mother was raised as a child.

I immediately felt compelled to write the shared history of Cowra during the war, so that Australians understood there were two ‘camps’ at the time, one where my own family lived with fewer luxuries than the prisoners of war. Paramount to my storytelling was weaving in my mother’s memories, paying tribute to Wiradjuri families of prominence and showing respect to local Aboriginal people who had fought in World Wars.”

Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms is one of a catalogue of award-winning and popular books Australian publisher Ligature has brought back into circulation as e-books, many of them part of Untapped: the Australian literary heritage project.

Untapped was a collaboration between national, state and territory library organisations, the Australian Society of Authors, Melbourne Law school and Ligature to restore out-of-print Australian classics and assess the impact of electronic lending through libraries.

Many of the Untapped titles were published in paperback by Booktopia/Brio Books and are now being relaunched by Ligature, along with titles introduced directly by authors or their agents.

The catalogue now features almost 200 titles from 100 authors including many loved and well-known titles that have been unavailable for years or decades.

Sydney-based boutique publisher Ligature is taking advantage of new print and digital publishing technologies to give them new life and a renewed opportunity to be devoured by audiences new and old.

Ligature Founder Matt Rubinstein said: “Sadly, even the most successful books can go out of print after only a few years and are hard to find outside of second hand shops and eBay, which don’t provide any ongoing revenues for authors. Once the rights revert to the authors or their families, many of them are keen to have their stories live on.

To be able to offer them the platform and means to achieve that is a great honour.

New opportunities in production and distribution also allow us to support projects that might not have been commercially viable until now. The Japanese translation of Anita’s beautiful Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms has been undertaken with tremendous care by Noriko Oka and Professor Donna Weeks and we are delighted to be able to assist with this important translation.”

Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms is available now in e-book and paperback via the Ligature website, Amazon, Booktopia, Apple Books, Kobo and to order at book stores nationally.

• Topics:
• History
• Literature / Writing