AustLit logo
image of person or book cover 7405003661866710524.jpg
Cover image courtesy of publisher.
y separately published work icon Black Diamonds single work   novel   historical fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2007... 2007 Black Diamonds
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'It is 1914 and Lithgow is booming. Daniel is a young German-Australian, a coalminer and a socialist; Francine is a bourgeois Irish Catholic princess, the too-good-for-this-place daughter of one of the mine's owners. When their paths collide, they fall in love despite themselves. But before their signatures on the marriage certificate are dry, World War I erupts, throwing in their path a new and much more terrifying obstacle. Against his principles but driven by a sense of solidarity, Daniel enlists; Francine, horrified, has no choice but to support him. As they hurtle towards a daunting world of war, separation and grief, the novel explores ideals of heroism and femininity, the thin line between courage and stupidity, and the resilience of individuals in a rapidly changing, uncertain world.' (Publisher's blurb)

Notes

  • Dedication: For my darlingest.
  • Epigraph: [Australian history] does not read like history, but like the most beautiful lies...but they are all true, they all happened. - Mark Twain, Following the Equator, 1897


    Epigraph: Australian sons let us rejoice / For we are young and free. - 'Advance Australia Fair', 1879.


    Epigraph: Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra / Gay your life must be. - Marion Sinclair, 1934.


    Epigraph: Don't go to hell in order to give piratical, plutocratic parasites a bigger slice of Heaven. - Direct Action, Sydney, 1915

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Pymble, Turramurra - Pymble - St Ives area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: HarperCollins Australia , 2007 .
      image of person or book cover 7405003661866710524.jpg
      Cover image courtesy of publisher.
      Extent: 506p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 1st May 2007
      ISBN: 0732284139, 9780732284138
    • Millthorpe, Blayney area, Blayney - Cowra - Grenfell area, Central West NSW, New South Wales,: Jazz Monkey Publications , 2017 .
      image of person or book cover 3801824099481789389.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 450p.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 27th June 2017
      ISBN: 9781925579215, 9781925579222
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Brio Books , 2021 .
      image of person or book cover 4473816919826388063.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Note/s:
      • Published 12th October 2021
      ISBN: 9781922598110

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Dyslexic edition.
  • Braille.
  • Large print.

Works about this Work

In Short : Fiction Kerryn Goldsworthy , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 June 2007; (p. 38)

— Review of Black Diamonds Kim Kelly , 2007 single work novel
Cracks of Credibility In a Uniform Style Dorothy Johnston , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: Tha Canberra Times , 19 May 2007; (p. 19)

— Review of Black Diamonds Kim Kelly , 2007 single work novel
Books Fiction Elli Housden , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 12 - 13 May 2007; (p. 22)

— Review of Black Diamonds Kim Kelly , 2007 single work novel
Books Fiction Elli Housden , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 12 - 13 May 2007; (p. 22)

— Review of Black Diamonds Kim Kelly , 2007 single work novel
Cracks of Credibility In a Uniform Style Dorothy Johnston , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: Tha Canberra Times , 19 May 2007; (p. 19)

— Review of Black Diamonds Kim Kelly , 2007 single work novel
In Short : Fiction Kerryn Goldsworthy , 2007 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 9-10 June 2007; (p. 38)

— Review of Black Diamonds Kim Kelly , 2007 single work novel
Last amended 10 Nov 2021 14:12:52
Settings:
  • Lithgow, Lithgow area, Central West NSW, New South Wales,
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X