'The Missing Years' is one of the most enduringly popular POW memoirs, because it is part military history, part travelogue, and pure human spirit.
A gripping wartime chronicle of Captain Hugh 'Pilk' Pilkington, this 80th Anniversary Edition traces his prewar life as a rubber planter in Malaya to the horrors of Changi Prison, Japanese occupation, and forced labor on the Thai-Burma Death Railway. Retraced decades later by his son and author Stuart Lloyd, they subsisted on 'railway rations' and even spent a night in a Malaysian jail to try and get a feeling for what Pilk went through.
'Absolutely compelling.' -- John Kerr, Radio 2UE.
'A very, very gripping story ...' -- Graham Mabury, Radio 6PR.
'An amazing read ... a historical document, which Stuart Lloyd has done a fantastic job on.' -- Simon Owens, Radio 3AW.
Voted one of the Top 3 War Books of the Year by The Australian newspaper.
Finalist, Book of the Year, Australian Society of Travel Writers.
Captain Hugh Pilkington enjoyed a privileged life as a rubber planter in colonial Malaya—until war broke out. Shot by a sniper in Johor, he was evacuated to Singapore's hospitals, only for them to be overrun in a Japanese massacre. Transformed into a prisoner of war, Pilk was sent to Changi Prison, and then forced to labor under inhumane conditions along the Thai-Burma Death Railway, including the deadly Hellfire Pass, where thousands endured starvation, disease, and daily terror.
Decades later, his son Paul, accompanied by award-winning travel writer and military historian Stuart Lloyd, retraces Pilk's footsteps—visiting Changi, Singapore's Alexandra Hospital, Parit Sulong, Batu Pahat, Kanchanaburi, and Hellfire Pass itself. Their journey reveals haunting parallels between past and present: ghostly cemeteries, forgotten battlefields, and the weight of memory.
With over 30 pages of rare photographs, wartime diaries, and freshly gathered anecdotes, 'The Missing Years' is more than a military biography. It is a travel memoir, an act of remembrance, and an exploration of resilience, redemption, and the legacies of empire.
The author has lived in Southeast Asia for 25 years, so knows the territory intimately, having been a World War II military history tour guide with a deep-dive interest in the Pacific theatre, and published several titles on the Japanese campaign.
• The Railway Man by Eric Lomax
• The Bridge on the River Kwai by Pierre Boulle
• The Forgotten Highlander by Alistair Urquhart
• The Malay Experiment by Stuart Lloyd
'The Missing Years' is also available in print and audiobook formats.
