General News
27 April, 2024
The fight for love in wartime Rainbow
Love, war, family relationships, personal entanglements, missing sons and adventure - they're all captured in a new book which uses both the town of Rainbow, and perilous World War I site the Gallipoli Peninsula, as story backdrops.
Love, war, family relationships, personal entanglements, missing sons and adventure - they're all captured in a new book which uses both the town of Rainbow, and perilous World War I site the Gallipoli Peninsula, as story backdrops.
"At the Going Down of the Sun" is the ninth and latest book for Sydney-based author Mary-Anne O'Connor, and the first with her current publisher.
The newly-released Penguin Random House Australia book carries shadows of the author's grandfather, Rainbow resident James Dennis Clancy, who enlisted for the war in Forbes, NSW, after raising his age from 17 to 21.
He later fought on the Somme on the Western Front.
The book, grounded in meticulous research, is available from many bookshops as well as electronically.
Ms O'Connor said she had taken great inspiration from her grandfather's stories for the epic love tale set against the backdrop of war.
"It’s full of heart and just a wonderful representation of the Anzac spirit," she said.
Fictional characters Thom and Archie Hogan are based in Rainbow, which allows descriptions of the town and its surrounds and people.
"Both were captivated with flying over the wheat paddocks of their farm, and when Molly James arrives in town, matters of the heart come between them," she said.
"Molly is a headstrong, albeit intensely beautiful woman, and the brothers become fixated on winning her attention.
"Then war strikes and they rush to enlist."
Molly also signs up as a war nurse.
"Spanning country Victoria to Europe and the Middle East, the brothers watch as war takes to the the skies for the first time," Ms O'Connor said.
High above the ground the two fight desperately for their own survival, while a battle of the heart continues to wage below.
"I loved to listen to stories from the past," she said.
"While my cousins ran outside, I stayed at the family dining table listening to relatives relate tales on how they made the best of things during wars and the Great Depression."
Ms O'Connor wrote her first novel, "Gallipoli Street" in 2015, and has revisited the Dardanelles in her latest novel.
"I conducted meticulous research into the flying corps of World War I, resulting in a heart-rending account of those history has deemed as 'knights of the air'," she said.
"It's a beautifully warm, deeply moving story of family friendship, undeniable love, heroes, soaring hearts and the Anzac legend."
Ms O'Connor's other books cover many topics including female suffragettes, the Vietnam War and Australia's gold rushes.
She said her next book will be based on her great-great-grandfather, who was a stowaway on a boat, along with his young son, and ended up in Tasmania.