The Flamboya Tree: Memories of a Mother's Wartime Courage

Book Description

“ The Flamboya Tree is a fascinating story that will leave the reader informed about a missing piece of the World War II experience, and in awe of one family’s survival.”
—Elizabeth M. Norman, author of We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese

“It is a well-known fact that war, any war, is senseless and degrading. When innocent people are brought into that war because they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, it becomes incomprehensible. Java, 1942, was such a place and time, and we were those innocent people.”

Fifty years after the end of World War II, Clara Olink Kelly sat down to write a memoir that is both a fierce and enduring testament to a mother’s courage and a poignant record of an often overlooked chapter of the war.

As the fighting in the Pacific spread, four-year-old Clara Olink and her family found their tranquil, pampered lives on the beautiful island of Java torn apart by the invasion of Japanese troops. Clara’s father was taken away, forced to work on the Burma railroad. For Clara, her mother, and her two brothers, the younger one only six weeks old, an insistent knock on the door ended all hope of escaping internment in a concentration camp. For nearly four years, they endured starvation, filth-ridden living conditions, sickness, and the danger of violence from their prison guards. Clara credits her mother with their survival: Even in the most perilous of situations, Clara’s mother never compromised her beliefs, never admitted defeat, and never lost her courage. Her resilience sustained her three children through their frightening years in the camp.

Told through the eyes of a young Clara, who was eight at the end of her family’s ordeal, The Flamboya Tree portrays her mother’s tenacity, the power of hope and humor, and the buoyancy of a child’s spirit. A painting of a flamboya tree—a treasured possession of the family’s former life—miraculously survived the surprise searches by the often brutal Japanese soldiers and every last-minute flight. Just as her mother carried this painting through the years of imprisonment and the life that followed, so Clara carries her mother’s unvanquished spirit through all of her experiences and into the reader’s heart.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!.......2006-11-04

I loved this book. It tells a story of courage, bravery, and family. It vividly captures an aspect of WWII that (sadly) is unknown by most people. My grandmother was also a prisoner of war in a Japanese camp in Indonesia and gave birth to my dad while in the camp. They are both gone now and this book helped fill in so many of the details of their story. Thank you Clara Kelly for telling your story, and telling it well.

Great reading.......2002-09-03

...It's awesome! I am so thankful to Ms. Kelly for sharing her experience. My Grandmother was also a prisoner of the Japanese in Indonesia during WWII. She had 2 babies (my dad, 6 months, & uncle, 1.5 years). I have heard 'pieces' of my Grandmothers story, but she has never been able to speak of it all. Now I know why. This book is truely a favorite of mine and always will be. Thank you Ms. Kelly. God Bless.

Very touching.......2002-07-03

The Flamboya Tree, by Clara Olink Kelly, was very touching.
This is a part of history that people should know about. We know about Japan invading Pearl Harbor,and other places, but what we don't know is the people who became effected by the war.
Clara tells this story so well, she makes you feel like you are there seeing all the tragic events yourself.
This is one book that I would highly recommend to everyone, I think we can learn a great deal from it and have a better understanding of war itself.

The Flamboya Tree: Memories of a Mother's Wartime Courage.......2002-04-15

We were bowled over by this book! Clara Kelly presents vivid and heart rending images of the heroic acts of her mother to save her children from the devastating conditions in a Japanese concentration camp during WWII. This tribute to her mother also reveals the tenacity of the author and her older brother under unbelievably inhumane conditions. We will read it again.

Average customer rating:

Grabs you and keeps you throughout!
An attention-grabbing read!
Another hit by Chamberlain...
Great family story
Wonderful Family Drama

Courage Tree
Diane Chamberlain
Manufacturer: Mira
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1551668696

Amazon.com

If you start your novel with a terminally ill child and a last-chance herbal remedy, chances are you've got a story. If you have the terminally ill child survive a car accident and become lost in the remote West Virginia woods you've got some stressful reading. If, for kicks, you put a psychopathic murderer in the woods, you've got Diane Chamberlain's nail-biting drama The Courage Tree. Sophie Donohue is the wise-beyond-her-years child. Janine is the mother wolf who courageously admits her child into the clinical trial of a new medicine against the advice of her ex-husband, Joe, and her cynical parents. Lucas Trowell is the literally tree-hugging love interest who supports Janine. Chamberlain knows how to place her characters in internal and external conflicts, and there are rich subplots for each character, though the abundance and timing of them can detract from the central drama. Even with its faults, The Courage Tree will lure you in and keep you reading late into the night.--Nancy R.E. O'Brien

Book Description

Eight-year-old Sophie Donohue just wants to be like everyone else in her Brownie troop. Which is why her mother, Janine, finally agrees to let Sophie go on a weekend camping trip with the other girls. But Sophie is no ordinary child -- she suffers from a rare disease that requires constant treatment.

When Sophie fails to return from the trip, Janine's worst fears turn to sheer panic. A full-scale search is mounted with no result, yet all her maternal instincts tell Janine that Sophie is still alive.

Deep in the Virginia forest, another drama unfolds. Sophie finds refuge in a remote cabin inhabited by Zoe, a woman who wants nothing to do with the child. Zoe is struggling to save her own daughter from the law, and Sophie's presence jeopardizes any chance of that happening. She is as determined to save her daughter as Janine is to save Sophie . . . and only one of them can succeed.

Customer Reviews:

Grabs you and keeps you throughout!.......2005-02-14

This is my third book by Diane Chamberlain and the one I liked the most. I do believe that all her books are a great stretch of the imagination, but that's fiction for you. This one was really suspenseful and not as predictable as the others. It's one of those books that you just don't want to put down. I highly recommend it for a fast, easy read with a good story.

An attention-grabbing read!.......2004-01-23

The Courage Tree is one of my favorite books. I picked it up at a used book store for $1, and let me tell you I was in for a suprise. It's not only easy to read, but you really connect with the characters. Diane Chamberlain is a greatly talented author and she proves that in this novel.

Another hit by Chamberlain..........2003-08-18

Janine Donahue couldn't dissapoint her daughter by telling her she couldn't go on the camping trip with her Brownie troop. After being diagnosed with a rare kidney disease when she was three years old, Sophie is far from a normal eight year old girl. It wasn't until Janine found out about a new study that was happening that she had hope for her daughter. Now she has an eight year old who can eat whatever she wants, smiles all the time, and generally gets to behave like an eight year old girl should. When Sophie doesn't return from the camping trip, her family and herself automatically assume the worst. Soon, Janine is the only one that has hope that Sophie is out there alive. Even the man she loves, doesn't seem to believe that Sophie is alive. It is soon a race against time as Janine fights to save the daughter she loves.

I enjoyed The Courage Tree, but didn't like it as much as I thought. Janine's ex-husband, Joe, was portrayed in a selfish light. At first I thought that he would be the 'hero' in the story, but soon read that the only reason he wanted Janine back was because he liked to control her. The way that Janine's parents and Joe ganged up on her was awful, especially since she never stood up to them. Not even by the end of the book. Lucas, Janine's lover, was a tragic character who has secrets of his own. I didn't really like the epilouge either, because I felt that it was unrealistic.

Great family story.......2002-07-19

This was my first book by this author and I really enjoyed it. It has a little suspense, but it's mostly a touching family story. I highly recommend it.

Wonderful Family Drama.......2002-03-08

This story captures your heart - the characters are portrayed in such fantastic way that you feel they are real people. Diane Chamberlain allows you to feel the emotions Janine and Sophie experience. Being from Virginia myself, I felt like I knew the areas she wrote about.

It is a wonderful book that has many unsuspected surprises and twists. This is the first of Diane Chamberlain's books I have read. I look forward to reading the next!

Average customer rating:
The Courage Tree
J. F. Cody
Manufacturer: Xlibris Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 141345495X

Book Description

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Gail & Me (Literacy Tree: What Courage!)

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Gail & Me (Literacy Tree: What Courage!)
Virginia King
Manufacturer: Rigby
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback