Blight #author EJ Johnson

His confession taught me that people are not always what we assume them to be; that we form our views on what we see, not necessarily on what we understand.

It’s early 1941, twelve months before the Fall of Singapore, when Australian infantrymen Clarence Roberts and Alexander Campbell disembark to join an imagined heroic campaign to defend British Malaya against the anticipated Japanese invasion.

Following the inglorious capitulation of the Allied forces, the men find themselves struggling for their survival, sanity and humanity – first in Changi prison, then in Outram Road gaol.

As shameful secrets from their former lives are progressively revealed, the line between right and wrong becomes increasingly blurred. Can disclosure of their past conduct withstand society’s enduring condemnation – or will posterity look upon their behaviour differently?

Set against the wilting moral fibre of the British Empire’s colonial beneficiaries in the Far East, Blight is a poignant story of malevolence, revenge, endemic racism and incremental decay, as well as a compelling meditation on the complex and elusive nature of forgiveness.

To conenct with Edward ....
https://hemburybooks.com.au/author-e-j-johnson/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Good morning. Welcome for the Yellow Shell for the first time. E.J. Johnson. Thank you. Welcome.

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Thank you. Thank you very much, Joanna.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Congratulations. Your book is out now. I want you to tell us all about it. Blight.

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Well, Blight um is about a number of things, and the number of times I've been asked by family and friends about what's it about. And I don't think I'm any closer now to answering quickly to that question as I was when I first wrote. And explores the life of Australians in that war and also the British colonial masters who made a whole lot of errors leading to the ignominious defeat and the biggest surrender of all time of British troops. So that's the underlying or the core issue. But of course, I deal with uh post-traumatic stress disorder, uh, the effects of war, the psychological damage of war on the descendants, and the intergenerational uh results of having suffered in warfare by the children of those soldiers who returned. And so it's got it goes to two time periods. 2015 opens in Melbourne with a visit of one of the suffering children to a psychiatrist to try and get to the cause of his problems. Uh, then the middle section is is about 1939. Uh there's a period at the um during 1943 for where there's an in internment and imprisonment of two characters in in particular, and then it ends the last two chapters returning back to 2015 in Melbourne, where um has there been any reconciliation, any uh result that's positive from what what's been experienced by the the uh person who went to psychological damage causes, if you like. So that's what it deals with. So it's um important because Australia um was the only well has never been really invaded. In European history, I'm talking about, of course. Um the bombing of Darwin happened not long after the fall of Singapore, so it had direct consequences on our nation. And of course, Australian soldiers went to Papua New Guinea. The Kokoda Trail is part of our legend, our Lanzac legend, if you like, now. So it's a historical novel, that's the genre, but it deals with so much more. And I think uh we need to know, succeeding generations need to know about uh what it was like in Singapore in 1940, 39 to 42. So I deal uh extensively with uh the British uh colonial interest in Singapore prior to the fall in February 1942. So it's a it's a broad, uh very broad sort of novel. It takes in a whole lot of elements that has it has humor in it. Uh it's quite well, um sort of irony and satire throughout. Um, it's not all gore or anything like that. So uh I left that to Richard Flanagan with the narrow path to the deep north, where he deals with uh thwarted uh love affair from his um earlier in his life, and he goes and resumes it after the war. But there's also lots of brutality, torture on the Burma Railway side of things, which Flanagan deals with. And uh it's brilliantly written, of course, and also is derived from his father's experiences, which my father, of course, went, was in Changgy as well. But he he did he didn't he only went very briefly to the Burma Railway. Uh mostly it's about Outram Road, which was the jail in Singapore, uh, built by the British in the 19th century. And anyone who escaped from Chang'e was sent there, where it was more much a bit like Port Arthur. It was a terrible place to get be sent to, and hardly anyone uh escaped. Oh, no one escaped, but hardly anyone escapes psychologically, if you like. So it deals with all those things.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

I just want to jump in and say uh the what I when I was looking at your book, it's very character-driven.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

Yes, yes, yeah, yeah. Um it's fictional. Um I the some of the characters there are based on real characters from from uh from London, but most mostly I've created characters which I think fit the type of uh story I want to develop and their character foibles, uh their strengths and weaknesses. Yeah. Um so yes, it's about the human condition.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yeah, and the characters. Would you want to tell me why write about it now? Like, tell me a bit about you so the audience know, and tell like you as an author, and and why write this book now?

SPEAKER_00 5:19

Uh well, I suppose um I've had a um a long, extensive background in in research. Uh I practiced as a barrister. Um, so I was used to reading a lot, to arguing a lot, to seeing uh like barristers in a sense you you you try and work out the ending before you start. Um so uh that was sort of a challenge to me. Trying to write a novel was uh another challenge in my life, I suppose. I felt the need to get it all out to actually depict uh the history that I'd read hadn't been depicted in a novel as such, in the novel form. There were very few. Um Richard Flanning's book, of course, is one of them, but mine is sort of different to his, and therefore I felt this inside of me. I needed to express myself. Uh, given the my background, I had the time and the research skills in order to be able to pull it off, if you like.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Yeah. Edward, you you mentioned it was a challenge, but did you enjoy writing? Would you write then?

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Yes, yes, I loved it, I loved it. And uh this sounds a real cliche, and I apologize, but it sometimes takes a long time before you get to really enjoy something uh that you want to continue with it every day.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

Yes, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

I mean, I had that I had experience sometimes uh in my work as a lawyer, um, and as a teacher too, I taught. Uh but actually sitting down and researching and writing uh dialogue and description was very pleasurable. And yes, I've got another book coming, um, not on warfare or anything like that, but it's it's going to be uh like a whodunit.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Lovely. Great to hear you writing again, Edward. Um Edward, do you want to tell us if we're watching anywhere in the world and we're interested in history and we're interested in the characters that you've written about, and um how do we connect with you and the book? So I know the book's available on Amazon, so I'll put a link in. But like, are you on socials or how do people how does people learn about you? Do you have a website?

SPEAKER_00 7:29

No, um I my publisher is um imploring me to get a website, and uh possibly if I I get into this second one, I'll do it. Um at the at the moment, I've I've got an Instagram account which I never touch. Uh uh so Amazon, Amazon.com.au will be the best way of uh approaching me, yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

No, look, I try to make it easy for the audience, particularly if they're curious and they want to you know connect with you or the book. I'll put a I'll definitely put a link in uh to where you can get the book and obviously the publisher, but if you keep writing, you you might want to get uh a a landing page or something, Edward, because people do get curious. It's wonderful when people hear about books and just want to be at each other. Yeah. Edward, thank you so much for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

And look, when your next book comes out, will you come back and we share it with us?

SPEAKER_00 8:25

Thank you, Joanna. I will.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Yeah, lovely. All the best. Cheers.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

All the best, bye.