Product Description

In 1943, when Grace and Leo Waterhouse married in Australia, they were part of a young generation ready to sacrifice themselves to win the war, while being confident they would survive. Sixty years on, as Grace recounts what happened to her doomed hero, she can say what she suspected then: that men are fundamentally childish and for many of them, bravery is its own end. The tale she tells is one of great love, lost innocence, a charismatic but unstable Irish commander, dashing undercover missions against the Japanese in Singapore, and - in her eyes - reckless, foolhardy exploits. As fresh details continue to emerge, Grace is forced to keep revising her picture of what happened to Leo and his fellow commandoes - until she learns about the final piece in the jigsaw, and an ultimate betrayal.

As absorbing as it is moving, this timely novel poses unsettling questions about heroic codes and why men so willingly and fatally adopt them.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #357436 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-08
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 264 pages

Review
"* 'Australia is lucky to have Keneally. Few writers have a public voice that one wants to follow into the bedroom. He combines Tom Wolfe's expansiveness with the uncorkable energy of Anthony Burgess.' - Nicholas Shakespeare, Daily Telegraph on THE COMMONWEALTH OF THIEVES * 'A polemical tour de force... Keneally's writing is as compelling, clear and commanding as at any time in his hugely impressive career.' - Scotsman on THE TYRANT'S NOVEL * 'The gripping work of an author at the height of his powers' - The Times on THE OFFICE OF INNOCENCE * 'Superbly crafted... a thought-provoking and engrossing novel' - Sunday Express on THE OFFICE OF INNOCENCE * 'Magnificent... A literary tour de force' - Independent on Sunday on BETTANY'S BOOK"

Review

‘Australia is lucky to have Keneally. Few writers have a public voice that one wants to follow into the bedroom. He combines Tom Wolfe’s expansiveness with the uncorkable energy of Anthony Burgess.’

(Nicholas Shakespeare, Daily Telegraph on THE COMMONWEALTH OF THIEVES )

'A polemical tour de force . . . Keneally's writing is as compelling, clear and commanding as at any time in his hugely impressive career.' (Scotsman on THE TYRANT'S NOVEL )

'The gripping work of an author at the height of his powers' (The Times on THE OFFICE OF INNOCENCE )

'Superbly crafted . . . a thought-provoking and engrossing novel' (Sunday Express on THE OFFICE OF INNOCENCE )

'Magnificent . . . A literary tour de force' (Independent on Sunday on BETTANY'S BOOK )

'A riveting and compendious account of the settlement of Australia by white convicts. It is a tremendous work, full of scholarship, adventure, drama and compassion' (Rachel Cusk, Daily Telegraph on BETTANY'S BOOK )

Keneally's latest novel, like several of the two dozen before it, is set during the second world war and built around real events made absorbing by his psychologically convincing characters.

(Guardian Review )

Daily Mail
'Both touching and gripping until the very last page. Warmly
recommended.'