The Little Captive
$12.99
"I took hold of the fence and pressed my face into the wire, asking myself what I had done to be made a prisoner?"
On the Indonesian island of Java, eight-year-old Lise enjoys a happy childhood, thousands of miles away from the war raging in Europe. Then, one day in 1942, her friends and neighbours start to disappear. For two years, Lise and her family were imprisoned in POW camps, surviving starvation, illness and brutal treatment at the hands of their Japanese captors - but they never gave up hope.
This is the remarkable true story of a little girl who, even in the darkest depths of war, was able to look beyond the barbed wire, to a time when she would be free. First published as The Blue Door.
Pan Macmillan acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to lands, waters and communities.
We pay our respect to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. We honour more than sixty thousand years of storytelling, art and culture.
© Pan Macmillan Australia 2025