The White Pearl - Kate Furnivall

Malaya, 1941. Connie Thornton plays her role as a dutiful
wife and mother without complaint. She is among the fortunate after
all-the British rubber plantation owners reaping the benefits of the
colonial life. But Connie feels as though she is oppressed, crippled by
boredom, sweltering heat, a loveless marriage. . .

Then, in December, the Japanese invade. Connie and her family flee,
sailing south on their yacht toward Singapore, where the British are
certain to stand firm against the Japanese. En route, in the company of
friends, they learn that Singapore is already under siege. Tensions
mount, tempers flare, and the yacht's inhabitants are driven by fear.

Increasingly desperate and short of food, they are taken over by a
pirate craft and its Malayan crew making their perilous way from island
to island. When a fighter plane crashes into the sea, they rescue its
Japanese pilot. For Connie, that's when everything changes. In the
suffocating confines of the boat with her life upended, Connie
discovers a new kind of freedom and a new, dangerous, exhilarating
love.