Australian Children's Classics: Seventeen Seconds

'His fingers were inside the ring bearing down on the primer mechanism, but he had to take the ring away, had to move his fingers to allow it to come away, a delicate manipulation with death . . .'

There were many manipulations with death for the Australians who volunteered for mine-disposal work in Britain during World War II, and who wee detailed to dismantle the deadly acoustic mines . . . with seventeen seconds to blast off if they made one false move. In particular, this is the heroic story of two men, John Stuart Mould and Hugh Syme, whose incredible courage enabled them to cope with incredible situations.