A story of espionage, betrayal, and the long shadow of WW2
Synopsis
Thirty years after James Hamilton was forcibly migrated to New Zealand as an orphan child, an unexpected inheritance draws him back to Cornwall, where he stumbles on a long-dormant WWII secret concealed in the shared memory of the small fishing village he once considered home.
Mystery deepens when James begins clearing out the cottage he has inherited and uncovers a bundle of letters that imply the owner of the cottage, a retired lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy, participated in a clandestine operation that has remained suppressed in the core of the village and has direct links to James's true identity.
Determined to get to the truth of his past, James digs into the background and context of the letters he's found, and it's more disturbing than he ever imagined. His attempts to unravel the past reveal a shadowy world of British Intelligence, the French Maquis and Nazi sympathisers within Allied ranks.
Against the backdrop of WWII exploits spanning North Africa and France. Where the Truth was Buried is a story of divided loyalties and extreme courage.
A story of love, of deceit and of sacrifice.
Where the Truth was Buried can be purchased online from www.xlibris.com/en-nz/bookstore. Just search under Dan's name or the novel's title.
A search on most platforms (Amazon etc) will lead you to several online sellers.
Alternatively, if you would like a signed copy, I have a few available. Email me, and we can sort that out for you.
BALLOT
When Fate Called Their Name
Synopsis
It is 1969, and the American war in Vietnam is raging. The Australian government has agreed to the US President’s request for military support in the struggle against Communism.
Australia unhesitatingly responds by enforcing conscription. Twenty-year-old men are selected by ballot of their birth dates drawn from a lottery barrel, sending them to the war-ravaged jungles of Vietnam.
When their birthday numbers tumble from the call-up ballot drum, Mitch Masters, a talented motorcycle speedway competitor, destined for international fame and fortune, Jay Petrovitch, the son of Russian refugees, Greg Sunderland, dentistry school dropout, and wannabe rock star, and Kiwi, a construction worker from New Zealand, find themselves on the sharp end of the fog of war and political duplicity.
For years following the end of the war, rumours of POWs shipped off to the USSR filtered through the ranks of the war’s Australian veterans. Was it possible that Aussie Diggers were among them?
The Australian authorities said no.
Is this Australia’s greatest cover-up?
From the inner suburbs of Sydney, through the jungles of Vietnam, the Closed Cities of the Soviet Union, the horror of combat, the oscillations of xenophobic and patriotic pressures and the collisions of ingrained world-views, Ballot is a gripping novel of allegiance and identity. Of mateship that transcends three decades, three continents, and opposing political and social philosophies.
A search on most platforms will lead you to several online sellers.
Alternatively, if you would like a signed copy, I have a few available. Email me, and we can sort that out for you.
Coming Soon
The Thread Between Us
Uncovering the Legacy of Two Forgotten Soldiers
Synopsis
It's been said that fact can sometimes appear stranger than fiction. This fictitious novel was born from one of those occasions.
Billy O’Maoil and Harry Wilkins both fought in the bloody mire of France and Flanders’ fields in WW1. Billy with the 36th Ulster Division and Harry with the ‘Cast Iron Sixth’ Battalion of The City Of London Rifles.
Billy, a farm boy from County Antrim, Ireland, and Harry, a lad from the East End of London, briefly came together in a putrid water-filled shell hole on Hill 60 in the Ypres Salient, Belgium, in 1917.
Almost one hundred years later, their families, now dispersed across the globe, bring the memory and the mystery of the men together through the discovery of an officer's valise in the attic of a stately English home and the far-reaching influence of social media and the World Wide Web.
Astonishingly, they discover that three generations later, both families are related to the men they never knew.
As is said, this novel is inspired by true events.
Names, dates, and locations have been altered to protect the privacy of those whose story this is.
