Peter Watt: Flight of the Eagle

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Another great book in Peter Watt's outstanding Frontier Series
Flight of the Eagle is the third book in the outstanding Frontier Series by Peter Watt that follows the Macintosh and Duffy families from the 19th to the 20th Century. The dreadful Aboriginal curse which haunts two families, inextricably links them together in love, death and revenge.

Captain Patrick Duffy, the son Irish Catholic soldier of fortune Michael Duffy, is tracking down his Irish ancestors and meets the mysterious and beautiful Catherine Fitzgerald.  Back in Australia Peter Duffy, working on the Queensland frontier as a Native Mounted Police trooper, is torn between his duty, and the blood of his mother's people - the Nerambura tribe.

Peter Watt is one of my favourite Australian authors who mostly writes historical adventures set in Australia and Papua. I have read and enjoyed most if not all of his books. On his website Peter describes his approach as "putting a human face" on the history of Australia and Papua. He has been described in many places as Australia's Wilbur Smith.

I would recommend all of Peter Watt's books, especially those in the Frontier Series and the Papua Trilogy. I suggest you start reading the first books in both series (Cry of the Curlew is the first in the Frontier Series) - I am sure you will then be keen to read the later books.

Peter Watt: Shadow of the Osprey

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Another great book in Peter Watt's outstanding Frontier Series
This book is the second book in the outstanding Frontier Series by Australian author Peter Watt that follows the Macintosh and Duffy families from the 19th to the 20th Century. The saga continues the results of a terrible Aboriginal curse on the Duffy and Macintosh families after the the violent and barbaric dispersal of the Nerambura tribe in 1862.

Shadow of the Osprey follows the fortunes of these families from the boardrooms and back streets of Sydney to beyond the rugged Queensland frontier and the dangerous waters of the Coral Sea. The end of the 19th Century is a time of sudden wealth for a fortunate few who grub gold from the Palmer River in the harsh and unforgiving Queensland Outback. The fierce Aboriginal warriors resist the invaders in a bloody guerrilla war, impacting  the lives of these families.

Peter Watt is one of my favourite Australian authors who mostly writes historical adventures set in Australia and Papua. I have read (and really enjoyed) most of his books. On his website Peter describes his approach as "putting a human face" on the history of Australia and Papua. He has been described in many places as Australia's Wilbur Smith.

I would recommend all of Peter Watt's books, especially those in the Frontier Series and the Papua Trilogy (his latest book "The Pacific" was released in December 2011). I suggest you start reading the first books in both series (Cry of the Curlew is the first in the Frontier Series) - I am sure you will then be keen to read the later books.

Peter Watt: Cry of the Curlew

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A brilliant start to Peter Watt's Frontier Series
This book is the start of the outstanding Australian Frontier Series by Peter Watt that follows the Macintosh and Duffy families from the mid 19th to the 20th Century.  The violent and barbaric dispersal of the Nerambura tribe (described in brutal detail in this book) is the start of an Aboriginal curse that affects the happiness of the Macintosh and Duffy families for generations. Through the lives of these families the book gives a great insight of life in Sydney in the mid 19th Century and the strength through hardship of the pioneers of early settlement in Far North Queensland.

I read this book when it was first published in 1999 and bought it again recently for my "Kindle classics collection". A couple of days ago I started to re-read the book and got hooked all over again. Peter has woven fact and fiction together to produce a rich tapestry of the times in Australia and a collection of wonderful characters - the good and the bad, the nasties and the really nasties. He shows a great knowledge and empathy for Aboriginals and how their nomadic way of life that was totally changed by the arrival of the first settlers.

Before re-reading this book I had just finished the 7th book in this great series - Beyond the Horizon - covering the families in 1918 and 1919. Wallerie, the old Aboriginal warrior and keeper of the curse still haunts the landscape wherever the Macintosh's and Duffy's are in the world. Kate Duffy (O'Keefe/Tracy), by then a successful rich and retired businesswoman, is still alive and plays a key part in maintaining the Duffy heritage for the future.

Peter Watt is one of my favourite Australian authors who mostly writes historical "faction" adventures set in Australia and Papua. I have read and enjoyed all of his books. On his website Peter describes his approach as "putting a human face" on the history of Australia and Papua. He has been described in many places as Australia's Wilbur Smith.

I would recommend all of Peter Watt's books in the Frontier Series. I suggest you start reading this book first - I am sure you will then be keen to read and enjoy the later books.

Peter Watt: The Stone Dragon

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An amazing historical adventure during the Boxer Rebellion
What is the connection between Australia and China at the time of the Boxer Rebellion at the start of the 20th Century?  In this book Peter Watt explores the relationship between the different worlds of Chinese immigrants who had become Queenslanders who are visiting China and those of native Chinese during the Rebellion. Peter Watt departs from his normal genre of books based in Australia and Papua with a gripping stand-alone tale of rebellion, and survival during that tumultuous time in China. This book shows off Peter's great storytelling skills, and his great affinity to the diverse cultural history of Australia.

I have read most if not all of Peter Watt's books (mostly in print format before I got my Kindle) and enjoyed them all. While I loved all of Peter's books about Australia and Papua, I really liked this book because it was different and gave me a better knowledge a major event in history that I did not know much about. It is a great adventure story, based on the loyalty and love of the main characters.

Peter is one of my favourite Australian authors. He is a natural storyteller and has written 12 great family historical adventures set in of Australia, Papua, China and even Russia.  On his website Peter describes his approach as "putting a human face" on the history of Australia and Papua New Guinea. He has been described in many places as Australia's Wilbur Smith.

I would recommend all of Peter Watt's books, especially the Frontier Series and the Papua Trilogy. I suggest you start reading the first books in both series - I am sure you will be keen to read the later books. Peter has written a few stand-alone books and IMHO this one is the best.

Peter Watt: The Pacific

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A compelling novel about the war in the Pacific on Australia's doorstep
Peter Watt has written another stunning story to complete his Papua Trilogy. This sweeping saga continues the story of the Kellys and Manns, where these much loved families (from "Papua" and "Eden") do everything in their power to protect their country and their loved ones during the occupation of part of Papua by Japanese invaders. They are involved in one of the most devastating conflicts in history on Australia's back-door step.

Jack Kelly, who fought in the Great War (Papua) is leading a small group of native fighters and his son Lukas is delivering supplies by sea to troops fighting in Japanese occupied territory. When they hear that Jack's daughter from an extra-marital affair (Ilsa Stahl, now an American War Correspondent) has been captured by the Japanese they will stop at nothing to try to save her. Other characters and family members from "Eden" are also involved in the conflict.

This book can be read alone but to really appreciate full scope of this great historical action family saga you should read the 2 previous books in the trilogy.

Peter is one of my favourite Australian authors and is one of Australia's best story tellers. He has written 12 great family historical adventures set in Australia, Papua, China and even Russia.  I have read most if not all of his books and enjoyed them all.

On his website Peter describes his approach as "putting a human face" on the history of Australia and Papua New Guinea. He has been described in many places as Australia's Wilbur Smith.

Judy Nunn: Tiger Men

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Another great Australian historical saga from Judy Nunn
Tiger Men is a sweeping saga of exciting days in the formation of Tasmania, from the penal colony of Van Diemen's land to the colony of Tasmania and the birth of the Australian Federation. It is told through the lives and adventures of several Tasmanian families who lived through this golden era of Tasmania's march to maturity, and their aspirations and achievements in building a modern Tasmania.

The Tiger Men theme describes an era when men were out for what they could get from a new and remote country - a place at the bottom of the world where God turned a blind eye to pillage and plunder.

Judy has once again written a book that is not only a great yarn, but also gives us a great understanding of the history of the time. It starts with the criminals and villains who haunted the dockside taverns and brothels of Sullivan's Cove, Hobart Town and concludes with the pride of the Tasmanian people as they watch their sons marched off to fight for King and Country in The Great War that cost so many lives so far away.

I have read several of Judy's books, including Pacific and Maralinga (her best book in my opinion). Some of us remember Judy's successful decades as a TV actor, from The Box in the 60's to 12 years in Home and Away. Her achievement in becoming a successful and respected novelist at the end of her acting career is astounding.