The Long Green Shore
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Written in 1947 but not published until 1995, John Hepworth's debut novel is a gripping account of Australian soldiers fighting in New Guinea at the end of World War II.
The product of Hepworth's own experience, The Long Green Shore recounts the lives - and deaths - of a group of soldiers battling the Japanese in the rain-soaked jungle. In sublime prose, it captures the terror and the monotony of war.
On its publication The Long Green Shore was met with immediate critical acclaim. It was recognised as one of the world's great war novels.
John Hepworth was born in 1921 and lived in Melbourne. A journalist, author, playwright and poet, he is well remembered for his contribution to the Nation Review in the 1970s and for his work at the ABC. He wrote many books, some co-authored with Bob Ellis and others illustrated by Michael Leunig. He died in 1995 soon after learning that The Long Green Shore would finally be published.
textpublishing.com.au
'Australia's All Quiet on the Western Front...The timeless record of a generation of men who had it hard and copped it sweet, and went off into battle not knowing what the day would bring.' Bob Ellis
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
There have been few great novels of WWII in the Pacific, and this is one of them. Australian author Hepworth (1921 1995) based this story on his own wartime experience, creating a gritty, vivid, and convincing tale of Australian infantrymen fighting the elusive Japanese in the steaming, rotting jungles of New Guinea in early 1945. Written in 1949, this novel is a masterpiece of war fiction, depicting the grim lives of Aussie soldiers in an obscure and unnecessary campaign against a starving, disease-ridden enemy. Pez and Janos are close friends in an infantry platoon, veterans of North Africa and Greece, now stuck on a miserable island where sickness and snipers take a daily toll. The New Guinea campaign goes on for months, with the troops suffering from illness, boredom, and the petty discipline of martinet officers. Like all soldiers, Pez and Janos gripe about everything clueless officers, bad food, the constant rain and clinging mud, and the stink of the jungle all while fantasizing about women and booze, and wondering when the war will end and they can go home. When the fighting comes, Janos stalks snipers and assaults machine gun positions to prove to his commander that he is not a coward, and the platoon attacks fortified positions and loses a lot of men. Best of all are Hepworth's strong, rich portrayals of men at war, determined to do their duty and resigned to their fate, hoping they will survive.
