The Truth Untold: Testimonio of a Second World War Prisoner (Editionfirst)

Reconstructed from marginal notes, letters and personal papers, Prisoner of War retrieves the remarkable life of Suhasini Biswas, a Bengali schoolteacher and British Indian civilian prisoner of war interned in a Japanese camp during the Second World War. The account offers a rare perspective on wartime captivity, trauma and survival, from the margins of empire. By foregrounding Suhasini’s internment, alongside prisoners of diverse nationalities and backgrounds, the narrative situates her experience within transnational political history and anti-colonial movements, illuminating the tensions of colonial rule in a changing world. What emerges is a deeply human story of endurance, faith, and hope during a time of global crisis.

Jayati Gupta is an academic based in Kolkata. Her career spans over 44 years in undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research in English Literary Studies. She actively writes, publishes and lectures on diverse contemporary thrust areas like literature and environment, travel and culture, marginalisation and Dalits, memory, recollection and life narratives.