Darkness Calls the Tiger: A Novel of World War II Burma
Burma (renamed Myanmar in 1989 by its military government) was scorched by the Japanese Imperial Army’s lightning conquest of southeast Asia in 1942, and bore the brunt of the gradual retreat of the Japanese in the face of the Allied recovery. With its rich ethnic diversity, the theatre saw remarkable successes in stitching together effective guerilla units. Historians Christopher Alan Bayly and Timothy Norman Harper wrote about these units in their work Forgotten Armies (2005).
This novel is set in the context of one such army, the Kachin Rangers, the creation of which Catholic and Baptist missionaries facilitated by helping hill people before the war and hence being able to recruit them for Allies. Though it is positioned as a Christian novel, I thought it addresses universal questions. How does one forgive when one can’t forget? How does one find one’s home? How do we know when we have done all we can?
Apart from shining light on a lesser-known aspect of World War II, this work stands out for its characters and situations. A tiger-slaying little girl, who reads ancient Greek poems, Shakespeare, and Augustine with as much ease as she scampers through the jungle, grows into both a vulnerable woman and a feared slayer. A young missionary who is fond of her grows into a toughened soldier on a mission; he wants to rescue her from a dangerous situation, without revealing this to his officer.
The story describes some brutal events, including rape, with sensitivity. Military thriller fans may find the action sequences weak. From a historical point of view, greater acknowledgment of the British Indian Army’s effort may have been appropriate. Overall, though, this is a valuable addition to the historical and Christian fiction genres.
