Overlooked History in Tom Trumble’s ‘Survival in Singapore’

Trumble’s latest historical narrative takes us back to Japanese occupied Singapore. Structured like a crime thriller, he brings momentum and empathy with stories from the everyday civilian.

By Rosanna Chim — Published in Honi Soit  25th of September, 2025

It’s 2025 and the history section in bookstores is still dominated by Eurocentric accounts of World War 2. Tom Trumble’s Survival in Singapore sits in contrast: it brings the Japanese occupation vividly to life through a different lens, focusing not on battlefields but on the Asian communities whose lives were upended by fear, scarcity, and violence. Through a series of gripping narratives, Trumble captures the daily realities of survival for these communities: securing food, evading suspicion, and navigating the constant threat of arrest or execution. His work highlights the human cost of war, often overlooked in histories that privilege military exploits over lived experience. 

Trumble’s story revolves around the aftermath of Operation Jaywick, the covert 1943 Allied attack that sank several Japanese ships in Singapore Harbour. While celebrated as a tactical success across Australia, Trumble emphasises the operation’s grim consequences for civilians. In a paranoid-filled response, the Japanese Kenpeitai rounded up innocent residents and internees. They tortured and killed many, including notable figures like Elizabeth Choy and Robert Heatlie Scott, during the infamous Double Tenth incident. I’m averseto starting my day off with historically accurate depictions of cruelty, rape, and torture, and reading about the Japanese’ particular hatred towards ethnically Chinese civilians is not my usual morning ritual. However, I felt a small gratitude that these atrocities were recognised in Trumble’s narrative of Operation Jaywick. 

Undoubtedly, Asian history is lacking representation in many Australian classrooms. This is coupled by the lack of a sincere apology from the Japanese government to date for the attack. Yet Trumble’s use of dual perspectives allows layers of camaraderie to shine from both Allied and Asian civilians, solidifying Asian diasporic pasts within Australia’s modern history. Trumble’s narrative structure amplifies this tension by using techniques I’d expect to find in Lucy Foley’s mystery thriller novels. When asked during an interview at the Royal Maritime Museum, Trumble mentioned that a deliberate use of time-jumps to fragment the work was to “create momentum” and “quite necessary in an otherwise flat story”. I found this to be mostly effective when reading but at times repetitive. Characters are reintroduced in further detail in chapters nine and ten after the reader has already formed an idea of who they were, with many details restated. What I can acknowledge is that by moving between key historical events and personal stories, Trumble highlights the cause-and-effect nature of wartime decisions. This technique keeps readers engaged while illustrating the way Operation Jaywick reverberated through civilian lives with unintended ill consequences. Moments of high tension in the text, like interrogations, are punctuated by retrospective leaps, allowing the reader to connect individual struggles to the broader sweep of history.

At its core, Survival in Singapore is a story of resilience. Trumble’s blending of historical research with personal testimony allows civilians’ voices to dominate a narrative often framed by soldiers and strategists. Trumble showcases Elizabeth Choy’s bravery when faced with unimaginable risk and danger. During the Japanese occupation of Singapore, Choy chose to help British and Australian internees and POWs in Changi’s notorious prison, regularly passing along letters, food, money, medicine, and sometimes radios. Following Operation Jaywick, Choy was falsely suspected of being part of the attack and suffered under the sadistic torture of the Japanese. Trumble voices testimonies from Choy’s interviews over the years, to a high degree of detail, often weaving direct quotes into the narrative. The book rejects romanticised notions of wartime heroism, choosing instead to celebrate courage while confronting the realities of the occupation. In under 400 pages, Trumble succeeds in balancing drama, historical insight, and empathy. The book is informed by interviews with surviving relatives, historians, official war records, memoirs, testimonies of survivors, letters, and the diaries of those who didn’t. Survival in Singapore is a compelling reminder that war is measured not only in ships sunken or battles won, but in the endurance, courage, and humanity of those caught in its shadows.