Books

LEGACY OF WAR A Family in Turmoil. A Country in Ruins.

Authors: Wilbur Smith/David Churchill Allen & Unwin Publishers/ Bonnier Books Pages: 480, in hardcover RRP: $39.99 ISBN: 9781838772246

Wilbur Smith and David Churchill join forces in Legacy of War. An actionpacked adventure set after the fall of Germany, death of Hitler and the end of World War II. The story takes place

THE MIRACLE TYPIST The Powerful True Story of One Soldier’s Long Journey Home

Author: Leon Silver Simon & Schuster Publishers Pages: 336, in paperback RRP: $26.99 ISBN: 9781760854355

In the tradition of ‘The Tattooist of Auschwitz’, a heartbreaking true story of love, loss and survival against all odds during World War II. Conscripted into the Polish army as Hitler’s forces draw in Kenya, Africa 1951 during the Mau Mau uprising, involving wealthy British landowners and Kenyan natives. Leon Courtney owns vast amounts of land in this region and his family is drawn into dangerous conflict when native tribes attack their home to protest the poor treatment of Kenyans and British rule in Africa. Another battle ensues when Leon’s daughter, Saffron and her husband Gerhard, pursue his brother Konrad, an evil Nazi general who is in hiding and needs to be brought to trial for war crimes. This is the 19th instalment in the Courtney family saga. A compelling read with a graphic, complex and engaging plot that won’t disappoint and will have you absorbed from the very first chapter.

closer, Jewish soldier Tolek Klings vows to return to his wife and son. The army is rife with anti-Semitism and Tolek is relentlessly tormented. As the Germans invade Poland, he is faced with a terrible dilemma: flee home to protect his family – and risk being shot as a deserter – or remain a soldier, hoping reports of women and children being spared by the occupying forces are true. An extraordinary odyssey follows, taking Tolek from a Hungarian internment camp to Palestine, where his ability to type earns him the title ‘The Miracle Typist’, then on to fight in Egypt, Tobruk and Italy. A heartbreaking and inspirational true story brought vividly to life by Tolek’s son-in-law, Melbourne writer Leon Silver.

AIRCRAFT OF THE ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE

Big Sky Publishing Pages: 609, in hardcover RRP: $49.99 ISBN: 9781922488039

As the RAAF commemorates one hundred years since its formation, it is fitting to look back at the multitude of aircraft which have been in service during this time. From the first wooden and canvas de Havilland DH9As gifted from the British Government

THE VANISHING SKY

Author: L. Annette Binder Bloomsbury Publishers Pages: 248, in paperback RRP: $23.25 ISBN: 9781526616715

Germany, 1945, and the bombs are falling. In Heidenfeld, Etta and her husband Josef roam an empty nest: their eldest son Max is fighting on the frontlines, while fifteen-yearold Georg has swapped books for guns at a Nürnberg

in 1920, to the recent arrival of the 5th generation F-35 Lightning II, Aircraft of the Royal Australian Air Force provides comprehensive insight to each of the 150 unique aircraft types which have helped posture the RAAF as a responsive, agile and potent force in shaping Australia’s strategic environment. Each aircraft type is categorised into its ‘A’ series number, including technical data plates and a broad range of photos. This book will largely appeal to aviation and military history enthusiasts. An extensively researched, detailed and expertly compiled history of Australian military aviation through the ages. A definitive reference source and valuable addition to any collection, which will be highly sought after especially during this centenary year of Air Force.

school for the Hitler Youth. At home, news of the war provokes daily doses of fear as the planes grow closer, taking one city after the next. When Max is unexpectedly discharged, Etta is relieved to have her eldest home and safe. But soon after he arrives, it's clear that the boy who left is not the same returned. With Georg a hundred miles away and a husband confronting his own difficult feelings toward patriotic duty, Etta alone must gather the pieces of a splintering family, determined to hold them together in the face of an uncertain future. An intimate account of a family destroyed by war. The Vanishing Sky is a deeply moving portrait of why decent, caring people falter when confronted by evil.