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y separately published work icon Billarooby single work   novel  
Issue Details: First known date: 1988... 1988 Billarooby
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'After the mysterious death of his grandfather, 11-year-old Lindsay Armstrong and his family leave England for a new life in New South Wales. Property is bought in remote Billarooby, a small settlement on the Lachlan River. It is 1942. The war is far away, but a stranger the boy chases from the farm, turns out to be a young Japanese soldier escaped from a nearby POW camp. His witness of the brutal recapture of the prisoner, triggers the horrific memory of a festering family secret involving both himself and his tyrannical father. The trouble in Billarooby has just begun. Lindsay acquires a picture book about ancient samurai warriors and their Code of Bushido. He comes to believe that the prisoners wish for nothing but to re-join the Emperor and regain their honour, something he feels is lacking in the local world that surrounds him.

'Lindsay is not the only one obsessed with the prisoners. The district's paranoid fantasies of mass escape are decidedly blacker than Lindsay's imaginings. Racial tensions erupt as the great drought grips and threatens to destroy the once flourishing farm. Vigilantism combined with inability to tackle the truth about the Armstrong family's darkest past, drive Lindsay's parents to desperate measures and bouts of madness. For Lindsay, it's a coming-of-age of great poignancy as the story reaches its climax on the dried-up river bed of the Lachlan.' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Dedication: To the memory of my mother

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Grafton Books ,
      1989 .
      Extent: 334p.
      ISBN: 0246134313
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Simon and Schuster ,
      1989 .
      Extent: 321p.
      Edition info: 1st Fireside ed.
      ISBN: 0671680390
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Sydney, New South Wales,: Grafton Books ,
      1990 .
      Extent: 397p.
      ISBN: 0586205896 (pbk)
    • Bellingen, Dorrigo - Bellingen area, New England, New South Wales,: Valentine Press , 2016 .
      image of person or book cover 8376389953456525557.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 1vp.
      Edition info: 2nd edition
      Note/s:
      • Published June 2016
      ISBN: 9780994224491, 9780994515704

Other Formats

  • Also sound recording.

Works about this Work

The Cowra Breakout : Remembering and Reflecting on Australia’s Biggest Prison Escape 75 Years on 2019 single work
— Appears in: The Conversation , 5 August 2019;

'Today (August 5) marks the 75th anniversary of Australia’s largest prison escape: the Cowra breakout, in New South Wales, during the second world war. In fact, it is one of the largest prison escapes in world history, but unless you are a keen war historian you may have never heard about it.' (Introduction)

Paperbacks 1990 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 7 April 1990; (p. 20)

— Review of Billarooby Jim Anderson , 1988 single work novel
Memorable and Enjoyable If Not Profound Robert Hefner , 1990 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 22 April 1990; (p. 16)

— Review of Billarooby Jim Anderson , 1988 single work novel
A New Life after Oz, LSD and California Josephine Flanagan , 1989 single work biography
— Appears in: The Herald , 28 April 1989; (p. 16)
Novel Grew from His Darkness Robert Hefner , 1989 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 30 April 1989; (p. 18)
Remarkable Tales of Eccentric Characters Giles Hugo , 1989 single work review
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 6 May 1989; (p. 3)

— Review of Billarooby Jim Anderson , 1988 single work novel ; I Am a Boat Sally Morrison , 1989 selected work short story ; Australian Short Stories 1982 periodical (67 issues)
Festering Family Nightmare in Sleepy Billarooby Katharine England , 1989 single work review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 3 June 1989; (p. 15)

— Review of Hook's Mountain James McQueen , 1982 single work novel ; Billarooby Jim Anderson , 1988 single work novel
Knowing Tom Wilhelmus , 1988 single work review
— Appears in: The Hudson Review , Autumn vol. 41 no. 3 1988; (p. 548-556)

— Review of Oscar and Lucinda Peter Carey , 1988 single work novel ; Billarooby Jim Anderson , 1988 single work novel
Untitled Harriet Zinnes , 1988 single work review
— Appears in: The New York Times Book Review , 19 June 1988; (p. 20)

— Review of Billarooby Jim Anderson , 1988 single work novel
Billarooby Jonathon Krause , 1989 single work review
— Appears in: Studio : A Journal of Christians Writing , Spring no. 36 1989; (p. 32)

— Review of Billarooby Jim Anderson , 1988 single work novel
Novel Grew from His Darkness Robert Hefner , 1989 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 30 April 1989; (p. 18)
A New Life after Oz, LSD and California Josephine Flanagan , 1989 single work biography
— Appears in: The Herald , 28 April 1989; (p. 16)
Coming Down From `Oz' Christopher Reed , 1989 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Age , 22 April 1989; (p. 8)
Hippie Farmer Grows Novel of a Wartime Aussie Childhood Giles Hugo , 1989 single work criticism biography
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 6 May 1989; (p. 20)
The Cowra Breakout : Remembering and Reflecting on Australia’s Biggest Prison Escape 75 Years on 2019 single work
— Appears in: The Conversation , 5 August 2019;

'Today (August 5) marks the 75th anniversary of Australia’s largest prison escape: the Cowra breakout, in New South Wales, during the second world war. In fact, it is one of the largest prison escapes in world history, but unless you are a keen war historian you may have never heard about it.' (Introduction)

Last amended 27 May 2016 09:43:50
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