by Fiona Palmer
Maggie clasped her hands together. ‘I think this is cause for celebration.’ She opened the beer fridge on the verandah and passed beers out.
Stefano tied Contractor and eagerly reached for a bottle. He’d embraced beer while working up a thirst over harvest. He cracked the top and joined everyone as they sat along the edge of the verandah, facing the setting sun with cold beers in their hands.
Maggie propped her beer between her legs and wrapped an arm around Antonia and Felicity, and pulled them both close.
‘Now, that’s a perfect shot,’ said Jimmy, pretending his hands were a camera. ‘The Sunnyvale girls. Stubborn, gorgeous, and the loves of my life.’
They all laughed as the sun dipped into the earth like a gold coin. Contractor neighed, galahs squawked and Fella chased Gypsy around the motorbike. Maggie smiled, her eyes misting. It was remarkable how long she’d held onto her hope, even when she thought she’d lost it all. Rocco squeezed her hand and she felt alive. Some dreams never die, no matter where your life takes you.
Acknowledgements
OUR area has a history with the Italian POWs, one that I wanted to dive into and write about. I couldn’t have done this without the help of others. Many thanks go to Ross and Lorna Murray for the stories and memories of Giulio and life in the 1940s. It was so amazing to learn about Giulio, to follow his story to the end and to be able to weave some of it into my own story. Thanks to my friends Lea and Yogi Murray for allowing me use your farm, Sunnyvale, and your stories as inspiration. It was great to see what was left of the old cottage. The tours around the farm were fun and an excuse to come out for a cuppa.
Searching for Giulio led me on a trip to Italy, where I met his daughters, Carla and Isalda, along with their immediate family, who were all just lovely. It wouldn’t have happened without the help of Mimmo Maurelli and Giulio’s granddaughter, Silvia Borioni, whose translating made our meetings possible. I will be forever grateful to you both. My time in Italy was very surreal and beautiful.
To my aunty Lorna Madson, Gaye Bario and my mum, Sue. Thanks for the most amazing trip ever. Memories I’ll treasure. Well, most of them anyway – maybe not the time we were locked in the Florence train station toilets!
Thanks also to Kath Garard, Lina Varone and Bice Di Franco for the information and titbits. They all help give this story depth and truth.
Thank you to the amazing Ali Watts, as always. To the Penguin team who I’ve worked with, or have helped me out, thank you Jo Rosenberg, Chantelle Sturt, Laura Thomas, Kym Steinke, Louise McCall and Julia Rauch.
I have special writing friends who I can call upon when in need. Rachael Johns, Margareta Osborn, Cathryn Hein and Fleur McDonald to name a few, thank you for all your support! Especially Rach, I can’t thank you enough for the wonderful cover quote.
I have an amazing husband who kept the home fires burning while I was away on my trip, and if it weren’t for him, the trip wouldn’t have happened and this book would have been ten times harder to write. Thank you, Darryl, for being so supportive and being a fantastic dad to Mac and Blake. We are so lucky to have you.
Lastly, thank you to all my family, fans and supporters who help me get through. I can because of you.
MICHAEL JOSEPH
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (Australia)
707 Collins Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3008, Australia
(a division of Penguin Australia Pty Ltd)
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
Penguin Group (Canada)
90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Canada ON M4P 2Y3
(a division of Penguin Canada Books Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd
80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL England
Penguin Ireland
25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland
(a division of Penguin Books Ltd)
Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd
11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110 017, India
Penguin Group (NZ)
67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand
(a division of Penguin New Zealand Pty Ltd)
Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd
Rosebank Office Park, Block D, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parktown North, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa
Penguin (Beijing) Ltd
7F, Tower B, Jiaming Center, 27 East Third Ring Road North, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100020, China
Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published by Penguin Group (Australia), 2014
Copyright © Fiona Palmer 2014
The moral right of the author has been asserted
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Cover design by Laura Thomas © Penguin Group (Australia)
Cover photographs: Girl: Michael Reh/Fuse/Getty Images; Girls in grass: Patrick Orton/Getty Images;
Flowers: kwest/Shutterstock.com; Sky: Nemeziya/Shutterstock.com
Historical photos and document courtesy of the Murray family
Author photograph by Lata Photography
penguin.com.au
ISBN: 978-1-74253-747-4
THE BEGINNING
Let the conversation begin...
Follow the Penguin Twitter
Keep up-to-date with all our stories YouTube
Pin ‘Penguin Books’ to your Pinterest
Like ‘Penguin Books’ on Facebook
Find out more about the author and
discover more stories like this at penguin.com.au