The book follows the author's personal journey of discovery, as he researches the last 7 generations of his Gray family history. It centres on how and why one family travelled from Leicestershire, England to Japan, onwards through the Orient via China and India, back to southern England before returning to Leicestershire some 150 years later. It explores the world events that dominated this shared timeline and speculates as to how such happenings steered these Gray ancestors along their incredible paths. It attempts to "close the circle" of circumstances that saw the earlier pioneers prosper alongside their Japanese hosts but also subsequent generations endure terrible suffering from the same hands. This was because seven members of the author's immediate family were prisoners of war, held in concentration camps in either Shanghai or Hong Kong. Continuing the circular family journey, it traces the resilience of this latter generation, attempting to achieve a recovery from the brink of disaster. Finally, it plots the end to the amazing round trip, as the author and his mother undertake the final legs of the journey. By way of a conclusion, the final chapter attempts to present the evidence for readers to answer the question posed by the book's title for themselves.
Key historical events covered include the Meiji Restoration (the transformation of Japan from feudalism to industrial superpower), the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, the emergence of Shanghai as a megacity, the Japanese invasion of much of SE Asia, and WWII in the Far East (Pearl Harbour, the Japanese capture of Shanghai and Hong Kong, the dropping of the atomic bombs to secure peace).
The book is a record of the author's research into the last seven generations of his paternal line, based on an extensive collection of family memorabilia. The story is highly personalised in its' latter chapters, since it relies heavily on actual memoirs of the immediate family members involved. This book gives a voice for these ancestors to tell their stories "in their own words", as the author has reproduced their actual letters and diary entries written at the time. By giving eye-witness accounts of major historical events, so many of the key players in the narrative are brought to life for the reader.
The book is essentially the author sharing his discoveries about these ancestors, even down to his father and grandfather. His grandfather died before he was born and his father died when he was only 18. For these reasons, the author only learned of most of the included details whilst doing his research and was desperate to share it with anyone who would listen! It is written in the first person, as it follows his discoveries in real time; his research is still ongoing. He shares his feelings about what he unearthed with the readers; consequently it is written from the heart!
