The Ballad of Les Darcy

by Peter Fitzsimons | Biographies & Memoirs | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0732286360 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingDavros-10wing of Banyo, Queensland Australia on 8/21/2007
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1 journaler for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingDavros-10wing from Banyo, Queensland Australia on Tuesday, August 21, 2007
This was a free book given to readers who purchased any book from the 2007 Books Alive Great Read Guide at participating bookshops. The book is described on the Books Alive website (http://www.booksalive.com.au/free-book-offer/about-les-darcy):

"THE BALLAD OF LES DARCY

‘Put Les Darcy in a uniform and the youth of Australia will march to hell behind him.’

That was the message Australia’s great ‘Blacksmith Boxer’ was getting, as debate about conscription raged in the middle of World War I.

The problem was that Les Darcy didn’t want to march at the fore of such a procession, nor to such a destination.

He wanted to continue what he had been doing to extraordinary acclaim before the war began — taking on the best boxers the world could throw at him, and lifting his entire family out of poverty as he did so.

Torn between the duty he felt he owed his family, and the duty many felt he owed his country, Les made his choice . . . and faced the consequences.

And so unfolds a ballad of love, war, betrayal, mystery, patriotism and heroism; a ballad of a champion whose story still has the power to move the stoniest heart.

‘Peter FitzSimons has pioneered a new kind of Australian narrative history, combining conventional research with disciplined speculation about the emotions and thoughts of his characters: thus enabling readers to experience the events he is describing with a directness and immediacy achieved by few other historical writers.’

NEIL MCDONALD, author of Chester Wilmot Reports and War Cameraman: The Story of Damien Parer"

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