Book Launch: Casualties of Love
5:30pm, Thursday 22 May
Paperchain Bookstore
34 Franklin Street Manuka, Griffith, 2603
Drinks will be provided.
Josie Young wants a life of her own. It is 2012. She is almost forty, restless, searching, dissatisfied. She has no partner and no passion for her job. Her spare time is dominated by caring for her beloved father and grandmother who are both struggling. While cleaning out her grandmother’s house, Josie makes a discovery about her long-dead grandfather, Will Young, that mystifies her and prompts her to investigate …
In 1943, Will has survived fighting in the Middle East and on the Kokoda Track. In Sydney on leave, he meets an attractive older woman, Gwen, whose husband is a prisoner of the Japanese. Will and Gwen engage in an ardent affair, though the couple face an uncertain future and agonising decisions.
As Josie’s research into Will’s life leads her into a tangled story of secrets and deception, she must confront moral dilemmas and navigate difficult paths of her own. Through her experiences of love, loss, and the inter-generational legacies of war, Josie is propelled in new directions.
Casualties of Love is a passionate and moving story of memory, war and impossible choices. Together with The Blessing and A Winter Sowing it forms a loose trilogy featuring several generations of the Young family.
Adrian Caesar was born near Manchester in the UK but has lived and worked in Australia for over forty years. He was formerly Associate Professor of English at UNSW, ADFA and subsequently taught Creative Writing on an occasional basis at ANU. He is the author of thirteen books including nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. His experimental nonfiction novel, The White won the Victorian Premier’s award for nonfiction and the ACT Book of the Year in 2000. His novel, The Blessing, was long-listed for the Voss Literary Award in 2016. His poems have also been long and short-listed for various awards including the Judith Wright Prize, the Dorothy Porter Prize, and The University of Canberra International Poetry Prize.