Singapore, 1942. As Japanese troops sweep down Malaysia and into Singapore, a village is ransacked. Only three survivors remain, one of them a tiny child.

In a neighbouring village, seventeen-year-old Wang Di is bundled into the back of a troop carrier and shipped off to a Japanese military rape camp. In the year 2000, her mind is still haunted by her experiences there, but she has long been silent about her memories of that time. It takes twelve-year-old Kevin, and the mumbled confession he overhears from his ailing grandmother, to set in motion a journey into the unknown to discover the truth.

Weaving together two timelines and two life-changing secrets, How We Disappeared is an evocative, profoundly moving and utterly dazzling novel heralding the arrival of a new literary star.

Fifteen gripping tales of determination, strength of mind, perseverance, and fortitude. Although survival is often taken for granted - something every human strives to achieve on a daily basis - it is just this everyday imperative that makes for the most exciting stories. When something goes wrong, when survival is threatened, often by something as simple and sudden as a boat overturning or a traveler losing his way, this is when the necessity of survival is no longer just another daily chore. This is when something as intrinsic as breathing or swallowing becomes the most essential need and the most sought-after desire. Great American Survival Stories includes contributions from Jack London, Theodore Roosevelt, John Wesley Powell, Owen Chase, John Muir, Osborne Russell, Stephen Crane, Francis Parkman, Henry David Thoreau, Richard Henry Dana Jr., and others.

Cruel To Be Kind is the true story of Max, aged 6. He is fostered by Cathy while his mother is in hospital with complications from type 2 diabetes. Fostering Max gets off to a bad start when his mother, Caz, complains and threatens Cathy even before Max has moved in. Cathy and her family are shocked when they first meet Max. But his social worker isn't the only one in denial; his whole family are too.