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'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
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Dedication: To the memory of my mother
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also sound recording.
Works about this Work
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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)
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Paperbacks
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 7 April 1990; (p. 20)
— Review of Billarooby 1988 single work novel -
Memorable and Enjoyable If Not Profound
1990
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 22 April 1990; (p. 16)
— Review of Billarooby 1988 single work novel -
A New Life after Oz, LSD and California
1989
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Herald , 28 April 1989; (p. 16) -
Novel Grew from His Darkness
1989
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 30 April 1989; (p. 18)
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Remarkable Tales of Eccentric Characters
1989
single work
review
— Appears in: The Saturday Mercury , 6 May 1989; (p. 3)
— Review of Billarooby 1988 single work novel ; I Am a Boat 1989 selected work short story ; Australian Short Stories 1982 periodical (67 issues) -
Festering Family Nightmare in Sleepy Billarooby
1989
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 3 June 1989; (p. 15)
— Review of Hook's Mountain 1982 single work novel ; Billarooby 1988 single work novel -
Knowing
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The Hudson Review , Autumn vol. 41 no. 3 1988; (p. 548-556)
— Review of Oscar and Lucinda 1988 single work novel ; Billarooby 1988 single work novel -
Untitled
1988
single work
review
— Appears in: The New York Times Book Review , 19 June 1988; (p. 20)
— Review of Billarooby 1988 single work novel -
Billarooby
1989
single work
review
— Appears in: Studio : A Journal of Christians Writing , Spring no. 36 1989; (p. 32)
— Review of Billarooby 1988 single work novel -
Novel Grew from His Darkness
1989
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 30 April 1989; (p. 18) -
A New Life after Oz, LSD and California
1989
single work
biography
— Appears in: The Herald , 28 April 1989; (p. 16) -
Coming Down From `Oz'
1989
single work
criticism
biography
— Appears in: The Age , 22 April 1989; (p. 8) -
Hippie Farmer Grows Novel of a Wartime Aussie Childhood
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)
- 1940s