James Clavell

James Clavell was an Australian-born British novelist, screenwriter, and film director whose epic novels set in Asia have sold over thirty million copies worldwide and introduced Western readers to the cultures, politics, and histories of Japan, Hong Kong, and the wider Asian world on a grand scale. Born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell in Sydney, Australia in 1921, Clavell served in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War and was captured by the Japanese at the fall of Singapore. He spent over three years as a prisoner of war in the notorious Changi prison camp — an experience that profoundly shaped his worldview and his fiction. Shogun (1975) is his most famous novel — an epic set in 1600 Japan, following an English navigator shipwrecked on the Japanese coast who becomes entangled in the political and military struggles of feudal Japan. The novel sold over fifteen million copies and was adapted into a celebrated television series. Its vivid recreation of samurai culture, Japanese politics, and the clash between East and West made it a worldwide phenomenon. Tai-Pan (1966) was set in the founding of Hong Kong. King Rat (1962), his first novel, drew directly on his experiences as a prisoner of war. Noble House (1981) continued the Hong Kong saga. Whirlwind (1986) was set in Iran during the 1979 revolution. The Children's Story is a short but powerful tale about indoctrination. Clavell also wrote and directed films, including The Great Escape and To Sir, with Love. Clavell died in 1994 in Switzerland. The audiobook editions of Clavell's epic novels are magnificent listening experiences, perfectly suited to the sweep and drama of his storytelling. His books and audiobooks are essential — among the greatest historical adventure novels ever written.