A Novel of Love and War.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We shall remember them.
'In May 1915 the invading Australian and New Zealand forces held a small beach head just north of Gaba Tepe on the Gallipoli Peninsula . . . Looking back today, our mind's eyes are clouded by faded photographs and artists' hurried, impressionist brushstrokes. Nothing can be seen clearly. But we can still hear the soldiers' own incredible stories, clear and undiminished by time.'
This is the story of two brothers, Jonathon and Joseph White. Caught up in the excitement of army recruitment camps travelling through outback country towns they, like thousands of other young men, sign up to fight the enemy.
Jonathon survives the third wave of the Anzac Day landings. Joseph is too young to sign up, but he is a crack shooter and eventually joins the army to be sent to the trenches of Gallipoli as a sniper. Soon the dream of adventure becomes a nightmare. Surrounded by the stench of blood, dust and the roar of artillery, the young Australian soldiers continue to fight on, courage overcoming their hunger and despair.
And in the Morning is not just a war story. Amidst the horror of the battlefields a love story begins. Rose, a Volunteer Aid Detachment in the Nurses Corps, works amongst the wounded and dying, offering comfort to those who have lost all hope. Meeting Jonathon makes her realise that life is bittersweet - time is precious and their love might be snatched away from them at any moment.
Nothing is certain.
From the first landings on 25th April 1915 to the battlefields of France and Armistice Day 1918, this is a uniquely Australian novel of love, war and courage. Graeme Hague has given the soldiers of Gallipoli and the Great War a haunting voice. It is a story that should never be forgotten.
