A Garland of Emeralds

About the Book

A Garland of Emeralds covers events in the life of Jasmine Carter and her family. The story begins in late 1941 when Jasmine discovers that the island Java in the Dutch East Indies, where she was born, is not the safe and secure place she had always thought. The rule of the Colonial Dutch in the East Indies is threatened from two directions. First there is danger looming from the North, when Japan's aggressive stance becomes more clear. Then there is also the threat from within, the nationalist movement, striving for Merdeka, freedom. This movement has been secretly brewing for decades. Its leaders have been exiled, and the movement suppressed.

Jasmine's parents came to Java from Holland as missionaries, and Jasmine has two older sisters and one younger brother. She has become friends with a native girl, Sari, and even when Jasmine discovers that Sari's cousin Sukandar is a freedom fighter, the girls continue to be friends. Holland has been occupied by the Germans since 1940, and after the attack on Pearl Harbor there are three months of intense waiting. Then, on March 8, 1942, the Japanese invade Java, which means the end of the Dutch Colonial Empire. Jasmine is devastated when her father is picked up by the Japanese, and sent to a men's camp. Some months later all white women and children also enter concentration camps. A Garland of Emeralds is a historical novel based on personal experiences. The names of all the characters are fictional, while the major cities named in the novel actually exist.

About the Author

Laverne Boulogne Van Ryk was born in Colonial Dutch East Indies, now Indonesia. With her parents, two older sisters and one younger brother, Laverne lived in peace on the island Java until the Japanese invaded it in March 1942. She and her family spent three-and-a-half years in various concentration camps, separated from her father, who was held in different camps.

The surrender of the Japanese in August 1945 was followed by an untidy peace, and it was still not safe to leave the camp. Reunited with her father, Laverne hoped to be able to start her life again where she had left off, but Indonesian nationalism had grown to such an extent that the Dutch were in the middle of a violent Revolution for Independence. In May 1946 Laverne and her family repatriated to Holland.

After five years in Holland, the family emigrated to Canada, where Laverne held jobs such as live-in maid and nurse's aide. She married and raised a family. After the premature death of her husband, she took university courses and earned a Bachelor of Education, a Bachelor of Arts, and a Master of Science degree in linguistics. She taught school for a while, but writing remained her major interest, especially writing about her experiences in the Indies. Laverne lives in Edmonton, Alberta.