This novel by a Singaporean journalist is based on factual events and situations about the light and darker sides of life in Singapore during the British colonial rule as well as before and during the Japanese invasion of Malaya in December 1941 and Singapore in February 1942. A pageant of human attitudes and expectations, heroisms and tragedies is set into the history of Singapore's last-minute actions and policies before it fell to the Japanese in February 1942.