The Narrow Road to the Deep North

A novel that beautifully weaves a love story with the brutality of war, The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan is a story about one man's struggles set against the close of the second World War. The author draws his inspiration from his father, who was one of the POWs that survived the building of the infamous Burmese Death Railway. Flanagan's The Narrow Road to the Deep North novel derives its title from a well-known haiku poet's - Matsuo Basho's - Oku no Hosomichi. Widely acclaimed and the winner of the 2014 Man Booker Prize, Richard Flanagan's novel will immerse you in a horrific world full of vivid characters that you'll never be able to forget.

If you prefer epic dramas to lighter comedic prose, then The Narrow Road to the Deep North paperback was meant for you. The novel travels through different places and time frames in a world besieged by warring nations, presenting a story about the war as well as the protagonist's own back story. Dorrigo Evans is an Australian surgeon at a Japanese POW camp in Burma. While thoughts about his love affair with his uncle's young wife haunt him, his experiences at the camp with those being forced to build the Death Railway will leave you feeling harrowed. The Narrow Road to the Deep North hardcover is neither melodramatic nor sensational; it is simply an account of human survival in the midst of a bloody war.