'A group of mates from the Sydney suburb of Botany answer the call from king and country and go away to fight in the first world war. Far from the adventure they imagined, the five years of the conflict bring challenge, fear and loss but also lighter moments and some unexpected romance.
'The boys shoulder distinctive responsibilities in Gallipoli and France. Boney creeps out under the cover of darkness to rescue helpless souls as an ambulance driver, Ced uses his engineering skills to design tunnels and lay explosives until he is captured and becomes a prisoner-of-war behind the front line, Frank leads a team operating a howitzer, Harry is a spy-catcher in England and Simmo takes to the skies as a daring fighter pilot. Clara and Maggie, Australian nurses, work in Cairo and on Lemnos before joining a hospital ship bound for England. Jeanne, a French pastrycook, volunteers as a V.A.D. in Rouen.
'Based on true accounts of the war, these Botany boys experience the daily horrors of those years and, in the process, learn the value of mateship and the cost involved in striving to preserve a way of life they believe cannot be compromised.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
