by John Kelly
In 2007, self-publishing author, Amanda Blackburn accepts an assignment in Japan to help exonerate the name of a former soldier who served in the post-war Australian occupation army in 1946. The soldier's damning exploits are revealed in a journal written by an unidentified veteran. On arrival in Japan however, Amanda soon discovers that things are not quite as they seemed.
A tender love story set against the background of the all-but-forgotten Australian military contingent, which made up the bulk of the British Commonwealth Occupation Force, sent to Japan in February 1946 following Japan's surrender at the end of WWII.
Assigned responsibility for the Hiroshima prefecture by General Douglas MacArthur, thousands of Australian soldiers disarmed the Japanese war machine, and helped repatriate Japanese soldiers returning home. They were ensconced into an area devastated by a nuclear bomb, where civilians were suffering serious physical and psychological trauma. Inevitably, some of the soldiers fell in love. This is one such story.
312 pages softcover