# Shame and the Captives

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/thomas-keneally/shame-and-the-captives/9781444781298

![Shame and the Captives](https://quivercdn.com/covers/sceptre/thomas-keneally/shame-and-the-captives_978-14-4478-129-8.jpg?v=2026-04-27%2008%3A09%3A08)

- Book: [Shame and the Captives](https://www.bookquiver.com/thomas-keneally/shame-and-the-captives) ([Shame and the Captives.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/thomas-keneally/shame-and-the-captives.md))
- Authors: [Thomas Keneally](https://www.bookquiver.com/thomas-keneally)
- Publisher: sceptre
- Medium: ebook
- ISBN: 978-14-4478-129-8
- Published: 2014-04-10
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: E-book

## Description

On the edge of a small Australian town, far from the battlefields of the Second World War, a camp holds thousands of Japanese, Italian and Korean prisoners of war. The locals are unsure how to treat the 'enemy', though Alice Herman, whose young husband is himself a prisoner in Europe, becomes drawn to the Italian soldier sent to work on her father-in-law's farm. The camp commander and his deputy, each concealing a troubled private life, are disunited. And both fatally misread their Japanese captives, who burn with shame at being taken alive. The stage is set for a clash of cultures that has explosive, far-reaching consequences.