Hawkesbury Library Service is pleased to present an afternoon with best-selling Australian author Judy Nunn on Monday, 14 October following her latest release, Khaki Town.
Judy Nunn’s latest novel exposes a wartime incident that has been a well-kept secret for 70 years. Judy’s fifteenth novel is set in Townsville at a pivotal moment in Australia’s history. It’s 1942. Singapore has fallen and it looks like Australia will be next. To combat this, Townsville is flooded with American soldiers, overnight becoming a ‘Khaki Town’. The local inhabitants welcome the Americans, and the black GIs revel in a brief period of integration, denied to them in their homeland. Racism eventually raises its ugly head and tensions soon arise as the Australian troops begrudge the confident ‘Yanks’ who have taken over their town. There’s growing conflict within the American ranks, because black GIs are enjoying the absence of segregation. And the white GIs don’t like it.
Tensions reach a peak on 22 May 1942, in a place called Kelso Field on the Ross River, just outside Townsville. As racial v
iolence explodes through the ranks of the military, a young United States Congressman, Lyndon Baines Johnson, is sent to Townsville by his president to investigate the horrific events of that night.
Mixing historical facts and figures with well-drawn characters, Judy Nunn delivers a meticulously researched page-turning tour de force.
Tickets to the author talk are $5. Bookings are essential via www.hawkesburylibrary.eventbrite.com or call 4560 4460.
An afternoon with Judy Nunn will be held at Hawkesbury Central Library, 300 George Street, Windsor, on Monday 14 October, 2pm to 3:30pm. The talk will commence promptly at 2pm followed by a book signing and afternoon tea of scones, jam and cream. Attendees are welcome to dress in 1940s fashion, although this is not a condition of entry. A prize will be given to the best-dressed from the period.
