In his first novel, Werner Herzog tells a hypnotic tale inspired by the true story of a Japanese soldier who defended a small island for twenty-nine years after the end of WWII
1944: Lubang Island, the Philippines. With Japanese troops about to withdraw, Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda was given orders by his superior officer: Hold the island until the Imperial army's return. You are to defend its territory by guerrilla tactics, at all costs.
So began Onoda's long campaign. Soon weeks turned into months, months into years, and years into decades - until eventually time itself seemed to melt away. All the while Onoda continued to fight his fictitious war, at once surreal and tragic, at first with other soldiers, and then, finally, alone, a character in a novel of his own making. . .
'An enthralling novel that explores the nature of time and warfare with great mastery' Mail on Sunday
'Herzog. . .brilliantly blends fact and fiction in this fever dream of a novel' Daily Mail
'A literary jewel set to sparkle against the backdrop of his monumental career in cinema' i
In 1944, Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda is ordered to hold Lubang Island in the Philippines at all costs, and he obeys until long after the war is over.
The Twilight World follows Onoda as he wages a private war in the jungle for thirty years after Japan's surrender in the Second World War. Convinced that every leaflet announcing peace is enemy propaganda, he survives on stolen rice, wild fruit and dwindling hope, watching his comrades die or surrender one by one.
As decades pass and the world moves on without him, Onoda's devotion to the Imperial army traps him between duty and delusion. The enemy he fights is no longer American soldiers, but time itself.
Based on real events, The Twilight World is twentieth-century historical fiction about obedience, pride and the slow unravelling of a man who cannot let go.
'An enthralling novel that explores the nature of time and warfare with great mastery' Mail on Sunday
'Herzog. . .brilliantly blends fact and fiction in this fever dream of a novel' Daily Mail
'A literary jewel set to sparkle against the backdrop of his monumental career in cinema' i
