AustLit

It is 1942 and Joey Smith, an evacuee from Sydney, sees a Japanese soldier in the hills behind the town. But in 1942 many people have nightmares about invasion. Is the soldier real? Why does he stay on the hill above the farm? This is a story about adventure, friendship, loss and prejudice - and above all a day to day account of life in a country town in 1942 - the fears, the rationing, the extraordinary dedication of women and children raising money for the war effort or making camouflage nets. Of Aunt Lallie who keeps organising to try to forget, the telegraph boy who must deliver the telegrams that everyone dreads, Miss Tidcombe who believes the invasion has started because someone is stealing her cats and Myrtle, the baker's daughter, who comes to believe in the soldier too. (Source: Author's website)