This is a beautifully written, evocative and absorbing book. Set in a Sydney of 1942 where the Pacific war is pushing closely on the consciousness of Australians. There is a subtle sense of betrayal by England, who has used up Australian men in the wars of Africa and Europe and has nothing left to give to an Australia now under threat of the Japanese. Reading this felt like reading the first hints of individuation of Australia as a nation, from England.