- Marney Blom, thanksso much for joining us,

here on "Jerusalem Dateline."

- It's great to be here, Chris.

- "Shadow of the Sun," this has been

a labor of love for many years.

Tell us about the book.

- Well, actually it's about a story,

an against all odds survival story

that took place 75 years ago

in the Asia Pacific War,

Second World War, endingof the Second World War.

And it's a story actually about my family.

In 2013, I came acrossthese little tiny letters.

They fell out of a box,my sister's basement.

And when I looked at them,

I realized these were theletters that my grandfather wrote

as a prisoner in the junglesof Northern Thailand.

And he's one of the POWs

that was working on the Burma Railroad.

And these were letters thathe penciled to my grandmother.

They were secret forbidden letters.

If he was caught he would've been killed.

But in the process he was documenting

what was taking place.

So it's an eyewitness account of the POWs.

Now, my grandfather was actuallya missionary to Indonesia.

He was sent from Holland in1928 and he was conscripted

by the Dutch Indies Military.

And so he was captured by the Japanese,

when the Japaneseoverran the Dutch Indies,

which is today, Indonesia.

And then he, over three yearsthat he was actually a slave,

a prisoner to the Japanese.

And he was sent to Northern Thailand

to work on the Burma Railroad.

And eventually, ended up in Japan,

where they dropped the atomic bombs.

- Tell me why this was so important?

It was put on your heart to do this.

- I started in 2013 and nowthe book is being released

at a time when the world isfaced with great uncertainty,

and a lot of people are suffering.

And this is a story of God's faithfulness

during a very difficult time.

Also, it's a story ofchoosing to trust God

in the midst of difficulties,in the midst of death.

Being surrounded by death.

Being surrounded by starvation.

And a completely changed world.

And so, so I think it's very interesting,

the timing of this book.

And I hope that people willalso be built up in their faith

as a result of reading it.

- You know, I can relate to this.

Back in 2002, when my mother passed away,

we found 75 letters that mydad had written to my mother

and very compelling.

But actually the circumstancesthat your grandparents

went through were much moredesperate and dire weren't they?

- Yeah, and actually asmy grandfather was a POW,

basically a slave to the Japanese,

my grandmother with seven children,

was put into a Japanese internment camp

on what is now the Island ofIndonesia, the Island of Java.

And one of her children were murdered.

And three of the othersgot very, very sick,

were on their deathbed as well.

But thankfully, they didn't die.

And so in my grandfather'snotes that I discovered,

he writes about how inthat season of difficulty,

in that crucible, he wasable to really see his heart.

He was able to see himself in a new light

and he was able to seehis failings as a husband

and as a father.

And I think part of thereason why he survived,

you see, most of his friends perished.

But he hung onto the hope that God

was gonna give him another chance.

After seeing his failures,after seeing his egocentricity,

he just said, "God,give me another chance."

He was even on his deathbed.

He contracted dysentery, which basically,

killed the prisoners.

There was no medical care.

And he just said, "Godgave me another chance."

And he hang on to the hope thatwe have in the Word of God.

And that's actuallywhy the book is called,

"Shadow of the Sun."

Because the sun represents the red sun

on the Japanese flag that they were under,

prisoners under that flag.

But also represents a Psalm 91, verse one.

"He who dwells in the secretplace of the Most High,

will abide in the Shadow of the Almighty."

And they clung to that Scripture.

And that gave him great hope and strength.

- Well, it's such a compelling story.

I've read it and I hardily recommend it.

Tell us, when people read this,

what do you want them to take away?

- I hope that theirfaith will be encouraged,

that their spirits will be raised up

and that they will have hope in God.

That God, He hasn't abandoned us.

I know a lot of peopleare suffering right now.

But God, even in the midstof the impossible situations,

God can come through and provide for us.

And I detail that in the book.

My grandmother with seven kids,

for a year was hold up in her house.

They had no money coming in.

She had another family living,

actually two otherfamilies living with her

and they had to trustGod to provide for them

for the basic necessities.

And you know, He did.

He never let them down.

- Well, Marney, tell us howpeople can get the book.

- They can go online and go to

www.shadowofthesun.org.

So it's, "Shadow of theSun," the name of the book,

dot O-R-G.

Marney, anything else you'd like to add?

- I have been to Los Angeles

and I have been speaking to producers.

And to be honest, thisstory actually was written

as a screenplay first.

So a lot of people who havereviewed the book, they say,

"You know what?"

"It's not like reading a book.

It's like watching a movie."

And so, because it came from a screenplay,

there is that sense of you enter into

that time period of history and you relive

the events with my family.

But also my hope and prayer,

and I'm working towards getting

this on the big screen as well.

- Well, you know, when I readthe book as well, Marney,

that's exactly how I felt.

I mean, this sounds like a movie.

It looks like a movie, reads like a movie.

And so I hope that canfinally get to the big screen.

And now we're here 75 yearsafter the end of World War II,

in the Pacific and it'svery timely, a book.

And blessings on your work Marney.