A group of mates from the Sydney suburb of Botany answer the call from king and country and go away to fight in the first world war. Far from the adventure they imagined, the five years of the conflict bring challenge, fear and loss but also lighter moments and some unexpected romance.The boys shoulder distinctive responsibilities in Gallipoli and France. Boney creeps out under the cover of darkness to rescue helpless souls as an ambulance driver, Ced uses his engineering skills to design tunnels and lay explosives until he is captured and experiences the perils of being a prisoner-of-war behind the front line, Frank leads a team operating a howitzer, Harry becomes a spy-catcher in England and Simmo takes to the skies as a daring fighter pilot. Clara and Maggie, Australian nurses, work in Cairo and on Lemnos before joining a hospital ship bound for England. Jeanne, a French pastrycook, volunteers as a V.A.D. in Rouen.Based on true accounts of the war, these Botany boys experience the daily horrors of those years and, in the process, learn the value of mateship and the cost involved in striving to preserve a way of life they believe cannot be compromised. Dell Brand grew up in Sydney, attending North Sydney Girls High School, Sydney University (BEd & MA) and Wollongong University (PhD). She taught in state high schools during her working life, teaching Physical and Health Education. She was recognised with the Minister's Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Outstanding Achievement in Education Award from the Australian College of Education.She has always had a keen interest in children with challenging behaviours, and worked for a number of years with a wilderness-enhanced program aimed at turning around young people's lives. This formed the basis of her thesis. As a teacher in this program, she involved herself in many of her recreational passions including abseiling, rock-climbing, wilderness trekking, canyoning and canoeing. In recent years, she has developed a particular interest in family history and history in general.Dell is also a part-time journalist and has been published by a number of editors in Australia and abroad. She wrote her first children's book, History's a Mystery, in 2010. Due to its success, three more followed. She uses her own travel experiences to write first-hand about places she has seen and people she has met. Some of these places find their way into her books.Now she is writing adult novels and her first two, 'A Voice to be Heard' and 'Cry to the Wind' are set in early Melbourne.Dell loves the outdoors, especially the wilderness. In her younger years she was a keen swimmer and an A grade squash player. She now enjoys all outdoor pursuits and tries to play golf regularly. She has a wonderful family, with two grown-up children and five funtastic grandchildren. She lives on the south coast of New South Wales.
