Sylvia
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First in line are Jessica Wynands and Clare Rowan who acted as my main researchers. Jessica wrote her Honours thesis on the Children’s Crusade at Macquarie University and Clare is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Modern History at Macquarie University. They were unrelenting, patient and diligent, as well as exceedingly scholarly, allowing nothing to be written they hadn’t authorised – often with pursed lips and a ‘Let me check that first.’
However, the history of the Children’s Crusade is a difficult and obscure subject and most of the scraps of information that make this remarkable and true story lie buried in short and sometimes contradictory Latin texts. I take full responsibility for those translations I chose to use.
Other scholars who assisted are Adjunct Professor John Walmsley, Department of Modern History, Macquarie University; Dr Andrew Gillett, Department of Ancient History (Division of Humanities), Macquarie University; Professor Alana Nobbs, Head of the Department of Ancient History, Macquarie University; Father David Ranson, Department of Spiritual and Pastoral Theology, Catholic Institute of Sydney.
Then there are the other indispensables, my editor and publisher, Lee White and Clare Forster. Without a good editor a writer is an often hapless wordsmith wandering in the dark. Lee fulfils every criterion for a great professional and all-round nice person. I am very fortunate to have had her at my side and on my side. Clare, as publisher, is the one who encourages and questions, though always gently (‘Perhaps, Bryce, you may wish to look at this section again?’). I thank you both. You never failed me and never compromised your own high standards.
My gratitude to my beloved partner, Christine Gee, who sustained me, helped in a thousand ways, coordinated everything and never failed to encourage me.
Now in alphabetical order those others who so generously helped: John Adamson for his tireless help with music and, in alphabetical order, John Atkin, Adam Courtenay, Benita Courtenay, Gina Courtenay, Kate da Costa, John Forsyth, Bruce Gee, Dr Ross Hayes, Alex Hamill, Graeme Inchley, Alan Jacobs, Peter Kalina, Dr Irwin Light, Christine Lenton, Fiona McIntosh, Hugh Mackay, Kate Maclaren, Robbee Spadafora, Simon (Naturopath – Macro Wholefoods), Robert Swan, Duncan Thomas, David and Pia Voigt, Annie Williams, Greg and Lorraine Woon.
Finally, those in the engine room, my publishing family at Penguin Books. They were as usual patient, long suffering, refused to panic, trusted me to the end and were always encouraging. Bob Sessions, as Publishing Director, honest, forthright, always encouraging and greatly respected and loved as the boss of publishing. Anne Rogan who, hands on, literally made my book happen. Then all those who help up until the day when my novel appears in a bookshop and I commence a media and book tour: Carmen de la Rue, David Altheim, Deborah Brash, Cathy Larsen, Tony Palmer, Julie Gibbs, Frances Bruce, Jessica Crouch, Mary Balestriere, Ian Sibley, Rachel Scully, Beverley Waldron, Peter Blake, Louise Ryan, Dan Ruffino, Sally Bateman, Gabrielle Coyne, Peg McColl. I thank you all.
Finally, my thanks for spending the lonely hours with me. Tim Courtenay, who wagged encouragement when awake and never left my side throughout the writing, mostly snoring at my feet. Also, to Princess Cardamon, our beautiful Burmese cat, who deigned to comment occasionally, adding to the narrative by walking across the keyboard before settling in a pool of late afternoon sun on the far corner of my desk.
ALSO BY
BRYCE COURTENAY
THE POWER OF ONE
Born in a South Africa divided by racism and hatred, young Peekay will come to lead all the tribes of Africa. Through enduring friendships, he gains the strength he needs to win out. And in a final conflict with his childhood enemy, Peekay will fight to the death for justice . . .
Bryce Courtenay’s classic bestseller is a story of triumph of the human spirit – a spellbinding tale for all ages.
TANDIA
Tandia is a child of all Africa: half Indian, half African, beautiful and intelligent, she is only sixteen when she is first brutalised by the police. Her fear of the white man leads her to join the black resistance movement, where she trains as a terrorist.
With her in the fight for justice is the one white man Tandia can trust, the welterweight champion of the world, Peekay. Now he must fight their common enemy in order to save both their lives.
JESSICA
Jessica is based on the inspiring true story of a young girl’s fight for justice against tremendous odds. A tomboy, Jessica is the pride of her father, as they work together on the struggling family farm. One quiet day, the peace of the bush is devastated by a terrible murder. Only Jessica is able to save the killer from the lynch mob – but will justice prevail in courts?
Nine months later, a baby is born . . . with Jessica determined to guard the secret of the father’s identity. The rivalry of Jessica and her beautiful sister for the love of the same man will echo throughout their lives – until finally the truth must be told.
Set in a harsh Australian bush against the outbreak of World War I, this novel is heartbreaking in its innocence, and shattering in its brutality.
WHITETHORN
From Bryce Courtenay comes Whitethorn a novel of Africa. The time is 1939: White South Africa is a deeply divided nation with many of the Afrikaner people fanatically opposed to the English.
The world is on the brink of war with South Africa electing to fight for the Allied cause against Germany. Six year old Tom Fitzsaxby finds himself in the Boys Farm, an orphanage in a small remote town in the high mountains, where the Afrikaners side fanatically with Hitler’s Germany.
Tom’s English name alone proves sufficient for him to be racially ostracised. And so begins some of life’s tougher lessons for the small, lonely boy.
Like the whitethorn, one of Africa’s most enduring plants, Tom learns how to survive in the harsh climate of racial hatred. Then a terrible event sets him on a journey to ensure that –justice is done. On the way, his most unexpected discovery is love.
THE PERSIMMON TREE
In the heartwood of the sacred persimmon tree is ebony, the hardest, most beautiful of all woods. This is a symbol of life, a heartwood that will outlast everything man can make, a core within that, come what may, cannot be broken and represents our inner strength and divine spirit.
It is 1942 in the Dutch East Indies, and Nick Duncan is a young Australian butterfly collector in search of a single exotic butterfly. With invading Japanese forces coming closer by the day, Nick falls in love with the beguiling Anna Van Heerden.
Yet their time together is brief, as both are forced into separate, dangerous escapes. They plan to reunite and marry in Australia but it is several years before their paths cross again, scarred forever by the dark events of a long, cruel war.
Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Pacific during the Second World War, Bryce Courtenay gives us a story of love and friendship born of war, and the power of each in survival.