Postwar changes

Empire day / Diane Armstrong. Pymble, N.S.W.: Fourth Estate, 2011

Bondi Junction in the late 1940s is a microcosm of changing Australia, and life is changing too fast for locals like salt-of-the-earth Pop Wilson, prickly Miss McNulty and feisty single mum Kath, all of whom resent the European 'reffos' who have moved in. The newcomers are struggling to rebuild their lives while the unhealed wounds of the past threaten to overwhelm them. As the lives of the neighbours interweave, unexpected new relationships cause tragedy for some, but forgiveness and salvation for others. Ultimately the residents of Wattle Street discover that behind closed doors, Old as well as New Australians have secret heartaches which poison their lives. Part love story, part mystery and part crime investigation.
'A captivating story with a host of interesting characters. Armstrong weaves a multi-strand novel that explores the clash of old and new Australians.'
THE AUSTRALIAN JEWISH NEWS

War close to home

The devil's tears / Steven Horne. Sydney: Macmillan Australia, 2010


The Devil's tears is a gripping novel, which takes the reader right into the heart of East Timor; firstly at the time of the Indonesian invasion in 1975, and then some 22 years later. In 1975, when bloody war raveages his beloved Portuguese Timor, Cesar da Silva flees with his wife and children from a country in flames. Becoming separated from his young family and believing they are dead, Cesar finds passage to Portugal and later Australia. In occupied Timor, Cesar's wife is alive, but her troubles are far from over.
In 1997, more than 20 years later, a young Australian journalist and her photographer are drawn to the killing fields of Timor. Compelled to expose the truth of the terrible suffering of the Timorese people at the hands of the invaders to the world, they become entangled in the da Silva family tragedy.
Through the telling of these two intertwining personal stories the book gives great insight into what happened during the 24 year occupation, when around 100,000 people died from fighting, disease and starvation...