Torn apart

the long version

When the Le Fleur sisters, Sybil and Blanche, were growing up in idyllic Burma in the 1920s and 30s, little did they realise the changes and challenges that they would face through life. With the death of first their mother and then their father, they had to cope with enormous personal tragedy, including the loss of all their family wealth. Then, when the Japanese bombed Rangoon on the 23 December 1941, Sybil was out Christmas shopping. There was no way for her to return to her sister or even to know if her sister was still alive as the death toll was very high. Torn Apart tells the story of Sybil's escape from Burma, her marriage to a Scottish soldier and her subsequent life in an Aberdeenshire county town. Meanwhile, Blanche lived for over three years under Japanese occupation and had to fight for her own survival, as well as that of her family, while defying the Japanese to help the young prisoners of war she had befriended.