“Two Slices of Bread is a remarkable, moving memoir. Three months after Ingrid Coles was born in Java, she and her family were incarcerated in a Japanese concentration camp for three years. This memoir goes from heartache to triumph and is highly recommended.”
Biography
Ingrid Coles may appear to be an ordinary person – a wife, mother, grandmother, retired nurse, hobby gardener, and keen church member, but appearances can be deceiving.
She was born in Java, Indonesia, in 1942, during the Japanese occupation and her family’s house arrest. Shortly after they were incarcerated into separate POW camps, for almost three years. Her father died in prison camp. At liberation from the Japanese in August 1945, they then faced the Indonesian War of Independence, so macabre, they had to be evacuated in May 1946 to their motherland, the Netherlands. But Ingrid’s younger brother died en route, and initially Holland was no picnic!
However, Ingrid was not daunted by adversity. Orphaned when barely 16, she had a clear idea of her future calling, and emigrated to New Zealand to begin nursing training four months later. She reveals God to be the secret in her country of adoption, and how she overcame the hurts and hurdles of the past. Ingrid married a New Zealander and has three daughters and ten grandchildren. She published her bestselling memoir, Two Slices of Bread, and is now working on her next book.
Blog Posts
In the green valley
When I was about six years old, I heard this Dutch hymn sung at a new primary school. I was still very broken by the many things that had happened to me in the past and felt like one of those little flowers in that valley. I felt crushed, overawed and hopelessly tiny, but I didn’t know what to do about it all. There were a lot of nasty people in the world and even some of the children at school were unkind.
Standing on my own two feet
I had toyed with the idea of standing on my own feet for years and do what I’d always wished to: Nursing! However, there was more to it when the time came, and this soon sank in. At 16, going on 17, I thought the world was my oyster, that I was invincible, even though I’d only been in New Zealand a couple of months and my English still needed attention.
Book Reviews
“As an ex-POW during the Japanese occupation of the Netherland's East Indies, aged 16, in men's camps in Pekalongan and Tjimahi, Java, I can honestly say this book describes the hardship and horror of that period (1942-1945). A story worth reading.”
Hans van Leuven born 02/07/1926, Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Retired architect
“I read this book with pleasure and appreciate the way Ingrid writes about her experiences in Japanese Prison camps and her life journey afterward. Her flowing style of writing tells an interesting story which gives a genuine account. A captivating book.”