In this fascinating interview, historical novelist Deborah Swift takes us behind the scenes of her latest novel, The Enemy’s Wife—a compelling story set in the rarely explored world of wartime Shanghai. Against a backdrop of political tension, cultural collision and shifting loyalties, Swift weaves a powerful narrative of love, survival and moral complexity.
I spoke with Deborah about what inspired her to choose this unique setting, how she approached recreating such a richly layered moment in history, and the emotional conflicts at the heart of her characters. From the resilience of friendship to the blurred lines between enemy and ally, The Enemy’s Wife offers a fresh and thought-provoking perspective on the Second World War.
Read on to discover the research, inspiration and storytelling behind this unforgettable novel.
Mary Anne: What first inspired you to set The Enemy’s Wife in wartime Shanghai, a setting we don’t often see in World War II fiction?
Deborah: In my previous book, Jewish refugees who arrived from Eastern Europe, ended up in Japan. But what happened to them then? The research told me that they were moved again after the events of Pearl Harbor, to Shanghai. I remembered wartime Shanghai from the film, Empire of the Sun, and decided to set the book in the International Settlement which featured in the film. This area of the city was the Western enclave, dominated by British and American businessmen and ruled by an Anglo-American council.
Shanghai was a wealthy bustling port, with its own film industry, and a luxurious Western-style lifestyle. Many wealthy ‘Shanghailanders’ lived in palatial houses and were waited on hand and foot by the much poorer Chinese population. I thought it was a fascinating place to set a story, a place full of contrasts and contradictions.
Zofia is caught between love and loyalty as her husband becomes part of the “enemy.” What drew you to explore such a complex emotional conflict?
Zofia married her Japanese husband before the war, and when the Japanese invade China she suddenly finds herself in a position where the man she loves is part of an invading army. We see this army from her perspective and from Haru, her husband’s. But the Japanese idea of how its army should behave was very different from the ‘gentlemanly behaviour’ attempted by other nations in wartime. It was absolutely uncompromising, and I wanted to show how this affected Haru and in turn how it meant there was really no way back for the couple once an oppressive nation had dictated how its subjects must behave.
Mary Anne: The relationship between Zofia and Hilly adds another layer to the story—what did you want to show through their friendship?
Deborah: There were many traumatised and displaced people in the war, who had ended up where they had no relatives or support network. These people often have no voice and because they have no agency, they are often left out of tellings of history. Hilly is one of those people, and so too is Zofia, but she is an adult and so more able to cope with the rapidly changing danger of being in a war zone. I really wanted to show that friendship has an immense value – even when the characters have nothing left, the fact they have each other means they have a reason to keep on fighting for life.
Mary Anne: Shanghai during 1941 is portrayed as both vibrant and dangerous—how did you research and recreate this unique wartime setting?
Deborah: Much of my research came from reading memoirs about the experiences of people in wartime Shanghai such as Shanghai Refuge by Ernest G. Heppner. But I also watched quite a few films on youtube taken at the time, which provided great visual reference. Not all of it was academic research , for example I watched the 1954 feature film The Shanghai Story in which the last Westerners in Shanghai, are interned in a hotel by Major Ling Wu and his men. I got a general background through various non-fiction, like Wartime Shanghai by Wen-hsin Yeh which is a collection of essays on the political and social dynamics of the city during occupation.
Mary Anne: Theo, as an American employer offering refuge, brings another perspective into the story—what role does he play in shaping Zofia’s journey?
Deborah: Theo was a person who had to come to terms with a radical change in lifestyle – from being one of the wealthiest men in Shanghai with a wife and children, to being alone in an internment camp in brutal conditions. What connects him with Zofia is not only the fact that they have both lost everything, but the fact that they are both people with inner resources, and their trust in each other is absolute. This in the end is what binds them together – their courage and their unwillingness to give up. Each needs the other, and Zofia’s decision to help Theo with his escape attempt drives the plot.
Mary Anne: Themes of displacement, identity, and survival run strongly throughout the book—were these central from the beginning, or did they emerge as you wrote?
Deborah: These themes were secondary to my original intention, but ended up being what glued the novel together. I am a ‘discovery writer’ and don’t plan how the novel will pan out beforehand. I have no ‘plot’ at the outset. I simply put the characters in the situation, and then I see what the best next step could be, to keep on increasing the tension for the reader. I let the research and the characters infuse the plot and drive it, so the themes arose naturally from the situations, and the era and place in which it was set.
Mary Anne: What do you hope readers take away from The Enemy’s Wife once they turn the final page?
Deborah: I hope people will find it uplifting. To see how the good in human nature can triumph over difficult odds. But I also hope they’ll see a different side to WW2. How the war affected the biggest trade hub in Asia is little talked about, and war novels are mostly Eurocentric or from the US perspective. Shanghai was a melting pot of different cultures, making for complex allegiances and conflicting loyalties. I hope I will have shown the world from the point of view of people who must navigate situations which are not black and white, but multiple shades of grey.
Scroll down to find out more about Deborah's fabulous novel.
Publication Date: April 6th, 2026
Publisher: HQ Digital
Pages: 380
Genre: Historical Fiction
'A fast-paced, beautifully written, and moving story. Refreshing to read a book set in a different theatre of war. Wartime Shanghai jumped off the page'
CLARE FLYNN
A poignant story of the impossible choices we make in the shadow of war, for fans of Daisy Wood and Marius Gabriel.
1941. When Zofia’s beloved husband Haru is conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army, she is left to navigate Japanese-occupied Shanghai alone.
Far from home and surrounded by a country at war, Zofia finds unexpected comfort in a bond with Hilly, a spirited young refugee escaping Nazi-occupied Austria.
As violence tightens its grip on the city, they seek shelter with Theo, Zofia’s American employer. But with every passing day, the horrors of war and Haru’s absence begin to reshape Zofia’s world – and her heart.
Can she still love someone who has become the enemy?
Head back to wartime Shanghai today:
Deborah Swift
Deborah used to be a costume designer for the BBC, before becoming a writer. Now she lives in an old English school house in a village full of 17th Century houses, near the glorious Lake District. Deborah has an award-winning historical fiction blog at her website www.deborahswift.com.
Deborah loves to write about how extraordinary events in history have transformed the lives of ordinary people, and how the events of the past can live on in her books and still resonate today.
Her WW2 novel Past Encounters was a BookViral Award winner, and The Poison Keeper was a winner of the Wishing Shelf Book of the Decade.
Empire of the Sun was such a moving film. I am really looking forward to reading your book, Deborah.
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