Agnes Newton Keith facts for kids
Agnes Newton Keith (born Agnes Jones Goodwillie Newton; July 4, 1901 – March 30, 1982) was an American writer. She is famous for her three true-life books about living in North Borneo (now called Sabah) before, during, and after World War II. Her second book, Three Came Home, tells about her time in a prisoner-of-war camp during the Japanese occupation. This book was even made into a movie in 1950. Agnes Newton Keith wrote seven books in total.
Contents
Early Life and Challenges
Agnes Newton was born in Oak Park, Illinois. Her family moved to Hollywood, California, when she was very young. Her father helped start the Del Monte Company. When Agnes was ten, her family moved to Venice, California, for her younger brother Al's health.
She went to the University of California, Berkeley. After college, she worked for the San Francisco Examiner newspaper. She faced some health challenges early in her life, including problems with her memory and eyesight. After a few years, she decided to become a writer.
Family and Life in Borneo
In 1934, Agnes married Henry G. Keith, an Englishman known as "Harry." Harry had been a friend of her brother Al. Agnes had first met Harry when she was only eight years old. Harry worked for the government of North Borneo. They reconnected when he visited California in 1934 and decided to get married quickly. Three months later, they sailed to Borneo.
Their son, Henry George Newton Keith, was born in 1940. They also had a daughter named Jean.
Harry was in charge of forests and agriculture for the government of North Borneo. He also managed the Sandakan Museum. Agnes spent five happy years in Sandakan, sometimes traveling with Harry into the country's interior. Harry encouraged her to write about her experiences. Her first book, Land Below the Wind, won a prize and was published in 1939. People loved the book, calling it "A delightful book" with "abundant humour and a pervading charm."
Life During World War II
When World War II started on September 3, 1939, the Keiths were on leave in Canada. Harry was immediately ordered back to Borneo.
The Japanese army arrived in Sandakan on January 19, 1942. For a few months, the Keiths were allowed to stay in their home. But on May 12, Agnes and her son George were sent to Berhala Island near Sandakan. They were held there with other Western women and children. Harry was imprisoned nearby. After eight months, Agnes and George were moved to Kuching in Sarawak. They arrived at the Batu Lintang camp on January 20, 1943. This camp held both soldiers and civilians. Harry later joined them there.
The camp was finally freed on September 11, 1945, by the 9th Australian Army Division. All three members of the Keith family survived their time in the camp.
Even though it was very dangerous, many people in the camp kept diaries. Agnes also kept notes about her experiences. Another woman in the camp, Hilda E. Bates, described Agnes in her diary as a "noted American novelist" who planned to write a book about their life there.
After being freed, the Keiths went to Victoria, British Columbia, to rest. Agnes worked on her second book, Three Came Home, which was published in April 1947. It described the difficulties and hardships that the prisoners faced under the Japanese. The book became a bestseller.
In 1950, Three Came Home was made into a movie, with Claudette Colbert playing Agnes. Agnes and George returned to Sandakan in 1947, a year after Harry. Borneo had changed a lot because of the war. In 1951, Agnes's third book about Borneo, White Man Returns, was published. It covered their life in Borneo from their return until December 1950. The Keiths lived in Sandakan until 1952.
Their Home: Newlands
When Agnes first arrived in Sandakan in 1934, she moved into Harry's house. Later, they moved to a government building on a hilltop. This was their home until they were imprisoned in 1942. After the war, they found their house destroyed. They built a new house in 1946–47 on the same spot and in a similar style. They called this house Newlands. They lived there until they left Sabah in 1952.
After many years, the house was restored by the Sabah Museum in 2001. It is now a popular place for tourists to visit. It shows information about Agnes and Harry Keith and what colonial life was like in Sandakan in the early 1900s. It is often called the Agnes Keith House.
Later Years and Other Books
In 1953, Harry joined the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and worked in the Philippines. Agnes wrote Bare Feet in the Palace about life in the Philippines after the war. It was published in 1955. Harry then worked as a forestry adviser in Libya for six years. He retired in 1964.
Agnes also wrote about her experiences in Libya, publishing Children of Allah, between the Sea and the Sahara in 1966. In 1959, she was recognized as a distinguished citizen by her college sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta.
The Keiths retired to British Columbia, Canada. Agnes continued writing there. Her first novel, Beloved Exiles, was published in 1972. It was set in North Borneo between 1936 and 1951. Her last book, Before the Blossoms Fall: Life and Death in Japan, was published in 1975.
Death
Agnes Newton Keith passed away at age 80 in Oak Bay, British Columbia, in 1982. Her husband, Harry, also died that same year.
The Keiths' Library
Agnes and Harry Keith loved books very much. They had a large collection of books and documents about Borneo and Southeast Asia. After they died in 1982, their collection of over 1,000 books was sold. Agnes had written about this collection in Three Came Home, saying Harry's library of Borneo books was "perhaps the most complete in existence." Many of these books were very rare.
Legacy
The title of Agnes's first book about North Borneo, Land Below the Wind, has become the unofficial motto of Sabah. Sailors used this phrase to describe lands south of the typhoon belt. But Agnes made the phrase especially famous for Sabah through her book.
Images for kids
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Book cover of Three Came Home
