Only Birds Above Portland Jones, by

Fremantle Press

Uniquely crafted tale of two world wars, seen through

Jones’ tender horse trainer touch, as man and animal sweat, suffer and support each other in terrible times. Blacksmith Arthur Watkins weds horserace crazy Helen, before he leaves WA to join the 10th Light Horse Battalion in the Middle East. “We’re shipping out soon, not all of us and some poor bastard’s got to stay behind to feed and shoe [the horses].” When the regiment returns, Arthur counts the losses by the number of riderless horses. “Herbert, 19, the best of him left at Gallipoli.” War over, silent, sealed Arthur, “His heart behind his ribs, like a dog behind a fence.” In 1945 Arthur’s son, Tom, is taken prisoner in Sumatra and forced to build the infamous “death railway”.