Elizabeth Hutchins

Troop Train Elizabeth Hutchins

It's February 1942 and the Second World War is raging.

Japanese planes are bombing Darwin, Australia fears an invasion, and the train track leads straight through the desert to Adelaide. Fourteen-year-old Rosemary Lister begins a diary to share the upheavals and tensions of her new life in the country, storing memories for her father, missing in Singapore.

Nearly four years later, after war's end, she has learnt of love and grief and her book is full - but one troop train has yet to arrive.

This moving and uplifting family saga was inspired by the stories of those who lived through the war in the Adelaide Hills. It is based on well-known author Elizabeth Hutchins' careful research studying newspaper articles, books, memoirs and historical collections - and talking to those who were there.