Infernal Rice and Red Desert Skies: The Memoirs of Roy 'Padre' Young: Farmer, Minister, Prisoner of

First Edition larger size book 8.5 x 11" (21.59 x 27.94)
See Second Edition for smaller novel size book.
'Infernal Rice and Red Desert Skies - The Memoirs of Roy 'Padre' Young: Farmer, Minister, Prisoner of War' is a nonfiction biography based on the memoirs of Roy Oswald Young. His story takes the reader into the details of life growing up from the early 1900s on a farm in rural Victoria, living through the Great Depression, as a mischievous schoolboy in the Australian bush and later, Melbourne. Roy was a Methodist Minister in regional Victoria, and an enlisted soldier in World War 2. He trained as a Medical Orderly and worked in the POW hospitals of Singapore, Malaya and Thailand alongside the legendary Doctor Albert E. Coates OBE. His personal account of surviving the fall of Singapore and the infamous Thai-Burma Railway as a POW during World War 2 is heartwarming, humorous at times, and deeply poignant.
On Roy's return to Australia after the war, his life began afresh as a family man working hard to build a life after the fallout of the war. His journey continued to evidence the resilience and faith of a man who chose to keep living with tenacity and curiosity. His years as a Methodist Missionary in the remote Western Australian outback in the 1960s, and then for a short stint in Papua New Guinea in the 1970s, add more intriguing pages to his remarkable life. Roy's is a story about family, mateship, and the power of hope. It contains a powerful message about the value of life and treasuring what is truly important.
Roy's memoirs are a read for adult and mature young adult audiences, with the backdrop of the iconic Australian bush and the hardworking country folk who took on the challenges of pioneering in the early 1900s. They are an account of a life lived out on a vast canvas. This book is for those with an interest in twentieth century Australian history, true accounts of World War 2, incredible survival stories and of family life in the bush when electricity, transport and the modern conveniences of today were a rarity. A comparison title might be Albert Facey's 'A Fortunate Life'.
In Roy, readers will find an engaging story detailed by an ordinary-extraordinary, resilient and humble man.