Publisher's Synopsis
It is 1914 and Lithgow is booming. Daniel is a young German-Australian, a coalminer and a socialist; Francine is the bourgeois, Irish-Catholic, too-good-for-this-place daughter of one of the mine's owners. When their paths collide, they fall in love despite themselves, raising eyebrows all around town. But before the signitures on their marriage certificate are dry, war erupts, confronting them with a new and much more terrifying obstacle. Against his principles but driven bu a sense of solidarit, Daniel enlists; Francine, horrified, has no choice but to support him. As they hurtle towards a daunting world of war, separation and grief, they learn things about themselves and one another that they would never have expected in more certain times - about heroism, sacrifice, the thin line between courage and stupidity, and, most of all, about the magical power of love.
