The Road From Mandalay
A Journey in the Shadow of the East
by
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"The shadow was taken for granted, but when should the separation start? In our family the spread of ages was a problem. My elder brother Bill was clearly old enough to be left in England and equally clearly Monty would stay with my parent for quite a while more. With Iris and myself the issue was not quite so clear. My father had home leave at rare intervals. To take us straight away would be too soon; to wait until the next home leave would be too late. It would be hard for Bill to be left by himself in England. The arithmetic of separation is quite tricky." ..."The block had cost 70 killed, 50 wounded and 100 missing. The horror was that we had to despatch some of our desperately wounded as there was no hope of succour."... "His aim was to tell tales more preposterous than anyone else. One remarkable story started, 'The only time I ate human flesh was in a French cruiser off Sydney.' "... "The road from Mandalay had come full circle.""
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About the Book
This is a tale of a life few understand today: the human cost of Empire, where families were torn apart - a father seen once every four years - growing up in the Thirties, a time much talked and written about by those who never knew it; a strange Oxford; the war at its most savage against an enemy like no other. And then communicating to a generation that knew not these things the values we had fought for. It is the story of one who found a faith and who after a life longer than most believed others should know about it. Over these years the East followed the author until he said goodbye to it in a special way. A tale of struggle, but of much fun and a humour that lights up its pages . You will discover after reading this book that these years have been worth recalling.
About the Author
Richard Rhodes James was born in Mandalay in 1921, one of five children of an Indian Army officer. He was educated at Sedbergh School and The Queen's College, Oxford. In the war he served in Burma with the Chindits and was mentioned in despatches. He taught for 44 years, chiefly at Haileybury where he ran a boarding house for 21 years. He moved to Cambridge where he finished his teaching and where he continues to learn. He has contributed to The Times and a number of magazines. He is married and has three children and six grandchildren