This poetically penned, emotion-gripping novel centers around the life of a Taiwanese family in the final weeks before Japan’s surrender and the end of the Pacific War. Dispersed, hungry, and in regular danger, all cling to the hope of survival and reuniting once again.

Despite his degree in History, Huang set all of his initial literary efforts in the present. End of Days marks the author’s first excursion into historical fiction and novel writing. Inspired by his grandmother’s childhood memories, Huang views this work as an opportunity to capture and preserve authentic memories and experiences from wartime Taiwan.

This story centers on the Khóo family, which now has only its elderly, women, and children at home to endure the American air raids, incessant hunger, and deep-set concern for family members far away. The family’s eldest son, who has a wife and daughter, is with the Japanese Army on some unknown Pacific island. Their youngest son, although still a student, was conscripted as well and is serving somewhere in the prefectural capital. The son-in-law too, compelled to leave his pregnant wife behind, is with a trench-digging brigade someplace faraway. Four stories unfolding in four places collectively chronicle the experience of a Taiwanese family during the final weeks of the Second World War.

Huang’s detailed literary style vividly captures in rich detail the sensorial landscapes of both the Taiwan countryside and remote tropical islands and impresses onto each character a tangled complex of thoughts and emotions. What he has realized in End of Days is an emotive microcosm of the cruelty of war, interethnic conflict, and human entanglements. More than a family epic inspired by real events, this work offers insights that shed additional, authentic light onto this increasingly forgotten period in Taiwan history.