www.petegrose.com
The Battle of Sydney Harbour
This is something quite new for me: an illustrated book. If you have already read A Very Rude AwakeningI and are wondering whther to spend your good money on a second book on the same subject (the 1942 Japanese midget submrine raid into Sydney Harbour) by the same author, fear not. This book is packed with new research material I wish I'd had back in 2007 when AVRA was first published. But then I hadn't met Makoto Ito, who translated An Awkward Truth into Japanese. From his base in Yokahama, Makoto came up with some fabuous additional material about the midget submarine raid including a Japanese soldier's field manual describing how soldiers should kill themselve before shaming their families by being taken prisoner. The new book has also given me the chance to do something I wish I'd done in A Very Rude Awakening, namely to produce a simple time line stretching back to the mid-19th century explaining how and why the actions of both sides made the Pacific War inevitable. Rather than go into more detail, can you please take a look at this spectacular video below, made by Gary Jackson. The book is available in Australia from Booktopia and some specialist outlets, but the best way to buy it is from Gary's and my joint web site, by clicking on the 'BUY' button below.
TEN ROGUES: the Unlikely Story of Convict Schemers, a Stolen Brig and an Escape from Van Diemen's Land to Chile
ISBN-978 1 76063 261 8
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From the grim docks of 19th century London to the even grimmer shores of the brutal penal colony of Sarah Island, this is a roller-coaster tale. It has everything: defiance of authority, treachery, piracy and mutiny, escape from the hangman's noose and even love. Peopled with good men, buffoons, incompetents and insolent convicts, this is an unexpected and wickedly entertaining story from the great annals of Australia's colonial and convict history. It is the true story of a small band of convicts who managed to escape from Sarah Island in a leaky and untested brig they had helped to build. They sailed it without maps or chronometer from Tasmania to Chile, one of the greatest feats of endurance and navigation in the age of sail. You can read some reviews by clicking here.
A GOOD PLACE TO HIDE: How one French Community Saved Thousands of Lives in World War II
ISBN-978 1 85788 649 8
This is the cover of the original Australian edition of A Good Place To Hide, published by Allen & Unwin. It can be bought at Booktopia, Dymocks, Amazon and other online booksellers. It can also be bought direct from the publishers. There is a Kindle edition available from Amazon, and an eBook.
Thomas Keneally, the author of Schindler's List, was kind enough to say this of A Good Place To Hide: "Peter Grose's tale of the astounding 'rescue village' of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon is a story resonant in our days, the age of refugees, and a grand narrative in its own right, all told with absorbing narrative skill. A book to cherish and recommend."
AN AWKWARD TRUTH: The Bombing of Darwin in February 1942
ISBN-978 1 74175 643 2
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The bombing of Darwin on 19 February 1942 was, and still is, the worst single event in Australia’s history. Only 10 weeks after Pearl Harbor, the same Japanese force -- pilot for pilot, plane for plane, aircraft carrier for aircraft carrier -- attacked the isolated and largely unprotected northern Australian city of Darwin. The official death toll was 243, but the true figure was much higher, perhaps as many as 300. Worse, the leadership both civilian and military failed, leaving the town open to panic, desertion and looting. The Australian government covered the truth until after the end of World War 2, and the story is still largely unknown both inside and outside Australia.
A VERY RUDE AWAKENING: The Night the Japanese Midget subs came to Sydney Harbour
ISBN-978 1 76063 330 1
I spent the first months of my research for this book discovering that just about everything I thought I knew about the raid was pure myth. The real story is exotic enough. Three midget submarines crept into Sydney Harbour on 31 May 1942, determined to sink the American cruiser USS Chicago. However they didn’t get very far. The first managed to tangle itself in an anti-torpedo boom net, and the crew blew themselves and their submarine up. A second submarine banged into the harbour seabed while under depth charge attack, and buckled its protective bow cage. As a result, its two torpedoes jammed and never got further than a metre out of their tubes. The crew were depth charged again, and suicided. The third submarine did manage to fire its torpedoes, but they missed. One torpedo ran harmlessly ashore, while the other exploded under an old Sydney Harbour ferry, the Kuttabul, which was being used as a dormitory for British and Australian sailors, killing 21 of them. The submarine escaped from the harbour and disappeared for 64 years, until the wreck was found off Sydney’s northern beaches in 2006. The fate of the crew is still uncertain.
1942: The Year War Came to Australia
ISBN: 9781761066641
Here's your chance to grab a bargain. This book offers the complete text of my first two books A Very Rude Awakening and An Awkward Truth, both set in World War II Australia in 1942 at the very reasonable price of A$32.99. I won't go into the subject matter again. It's all on this page. You can see that my beloved publishers have even managed to combine the two covers, leading to economies all round!
The book is available from all the outlets listed below Otherwise the 'Buy' button below will take you to the publishers' web site and their online purchase service, which comes highly recommended.
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