Barefoot Gen: Life after the bomb

Book excerpt: Starting a few months before the city of Hiroshima was destroyed by an atomic bomb, the four-volume saga shows life in Japan after years of war and privations, as seen through the eyes of seven-year-old Gen Nakaoka. Volume 3 picks up the story with Gen, his mother and his baby brother searching for a place to rest in the bomb's aftermath. Facing rejection, hunger and humiliation, they come to realise that they still have - and can share - three crucial possessions: their self-respect, their hope and their inner strength. With an introduction by Art Spiegelman.