National Network for Equitable Library Service

In the autumn of 1943 Giuseppe Lazaro, an Italian prisoner of war, is dropped into a small rural outpost on the edge of the West Australian wheatbelt. He has never seen a place so colourless and flat. He has never met anyone like Max Nash, the young and struggling owner of the farm. The Nashes slowly accept Giuseppe - or Joe, as they call him - into their home, but he discovers there are limits. Max′s sister, Eddy, back from nursing Australian soldiers overseas, bitterly resents ′the enemy′ eating at her family′s table. The enforced isolation and intimacy of the farm gradually push Eddy and Giuseppe into an uneasy truce. As the months pass Giuseppe′s feelings for the prickly young woman grow stronger, bringing him into conflict with not only the family and the community, but also with Hal, a neighbour and family friend.