She was a doctor in Bradford. He was a prisoner of war being held in appalling conditions in the Far East.

Yet, amazingly, Elizabeth Glassey and her fianc Atholl Duncan managed to keep in touch by letter.

Postcards, telegraph messages, the odd parcel - their correspondence crossed war-ravaged continents and gave each of them small grains of hope that one day they would be reunited.

In just 18 months, between March 1944 and September 1945, Atholl received 49 items of mail. And they have survived to this day, along with the many other items he received and those he sent to Elizabeth.

Now the letters - which are in pristine condition - are to be included in a book being written by the couple's daughter. Mum-of-four Meg Parkes is also drawing upon diaries which her father kept while being held captive, first in Java, then Japan.

Atholl served with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and was taken to Japan on what were called "death ships" because the captives were treated like slaves.

The book will also chart how the qualified doctor spent a harrowing time in a camp north of Nagasaki where the prisoners were herded down mine shafts each morning and not allowed up until after nightfall.

"They believed that every day would be their last," says Meg, who lives on the Wirral. "My father knew he was lucky to survive and to make it home."

Meg plans to publish the book in February, on the anniversary of the fall of Singapore and the fifth anniversary of her father's death. Her account will also look at the lives of those back home, through the experiences of her late mother.

A former pupil of Bradford Girls' Grammar School pupil, her mother specialised in obstetrics and gynaecology at St Luke's Hospital.

"With the war on, she gained experience at the cutting edge. It was very stressful for her," says Meg.

But Elizabeth loved her work, and wrote: "You can get a laugh out of the children. They say such amazing things."

"Mum wrote about living and working in Bradford, she tried to be buoyant," says Meg, whose grandfather Stanley C Glassey taught English at Bradford Grammar School from 1919 to 1948.

"My parents were two young people in love, in different walks of life, coping with the terrible events of the war. What they went through in their twenties is unimaginable."

As part of her research for the book, Meg is hoping to get in touch with anyone who knew her parents, through work or in any other way.

She has two photographs, one showing her mother standing alongside nursing staff, with all the babies delivered in the maternity ward on VJ Day, August 15, 1945.

The other shows her having fun in the medical mess room. "I would love to find out who the other people are, the staff or the babies, who must be around now," says Meg.

If anyone can help Meg, write to her at: Kranji, 34 Queen's Road, Hoylake, Wirral CH47 2AJ, or e-mail megparkes@compuserve.com or call her on 0151 632 2017.

The T&A receives many requests for information on Bradfordians past and present - many from people seeking to piece together their family tree - and all are posted on our award-winning website. Here is a selection.

Craig Sugden of Markham, Ontario, Canada, is looking for Sugden family ancestors in Keighley. His grandfather, Charles Bentham Sugden, left the town as a child a century ago.

Tom Fletcher, from Miami, USA, wants information about relatives of his father, Edwin Hartley Fletcher, who was born in Bradford in 1911.

Julie Hochstadter, of Sandton, South Africa, would like information about her cousins, all of whom are named Bentley.

Dr Herbert Wood, of Manitoba, Canada, is trying to make contact with his cousin, Elizabeth Mills.

To browse hundreds of other messages, log on to www.thisisbradford.co.uk and click the Get In Touch button.