Packed with fresh and surprising stories, 1945: The Reckoning takes readers on a spectacular journey from the deadly jungles of Burma through hospital ships on Indian rivers and copper mines in Formosa to the 'lost trains' of the Belsen concentration camp. As the fate of the world is decided so too is that of the British Empire and in India millions of men and women struggle to decide whether to support 'the Raj' or fight alongside the Japanese. In Borneo a little known Australian special forces campaign - secretly controlled from London - goes horribly wrong as questions are asked about whether its true purpose is military or imperial.

Clearing away the haze of nostalgia, many uncomfortable truths emerge - but so too does a new and balanced analysis of Empire at this unsurpassed moment of global jeopardy. An Indian military family is bitterly divided. Will it be the brother who stands by the British, or the one who follows Subhas Chandra Bose and his Indian National Army, who goes on to help build a new and free India?