White Man Returns

The third book in the Borneo trilogy, this one focuses on the period following the Keith family’s release from the Japanese POW/internment camps on the island of Borneo. After being interned for four years, Harry, Agnes and their six-year old son George return to North America to Victoria, British Columbia to be among family, to heal and to forget. But before long Harry is asked to return to Borneo to assist with rebuilding the devastated island and despite Agnes’ concerns, decides to make his way back to be part of the efforts. He and Agnes can never repay the kindness of the locals as well as the risks they took smuggling food into the prison camps, helping the prisoners in any way they could to ease the hardship of living in show more pitiful conditions. Returning to Borneo to help with the work was one of the ways in which he could do that. Agnes and George soon follow – and once again the Keith family are back on the tropical island amidst the locals, Harry off to work and Agnes acting as full-time referee between the household help. All in all this book felt somewhat similar to the first book – living the life of the “white man” among the locals hasn’t changed too dramatically, the humorous goings on between the household help provided some pleasure, but not quite with the same intensity since we’d experienced it in book 1. For the most part, the Keiths’ lives were at this point more mundane than in books 1 and 2. Keith’s writing is charming and elegant and the book is still a decent read. I definitely recommend reading books 1 and 2, which are more interesting than this one. Here are my reviews of the other two books: Land Below the Wind - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... and Three Came Home - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... (less) show less