Cirrus@Austlit

'In 1914 a young man enlists as a subaltern with the British Royal Field Artillery. He will serve four years in France, earning the Military Cross three times. He is mentioned in dispatches and awarded the Belgian Croix de Guerre. A century later an Australian Vietnam Veteran bids for a portrait of a highly decorated British officer. Who was this soldier? Why and where was the painting done? And what is it now doing hanging in a Melbourne auction room? The first clue lies in a tattered death notice, pinned to the back of the portrait. It is dated twelve days before the Armistice. So begins a journey of discovery. Two soldiers. two families, two wars fifty years apart, and a hero who wants to finally go home' (Synopsis)

'Twenty days in a country is not long. But in twenty days you can smell spices, taste coffee, hear the call to prayer, and see mosques and minarets.

'Visit the Gallipoli peninsula and feel – a hundred years on – what it must have been like to be an ANZAC in 1915. ' (Publication summary)

'“Reading this collection of poems is rather like going on a journey. You will meet new characters – odd eccentric, recognisable, funny, tragic, family characters. Sounds and sights suffuse the poetry in ways to leave you smiling, thinking, just occasionally feeling sad – but always enjoying the power of the placement of words to complete the journey.”  Graham Leo.'  (Publication summary)