The Warramunga's War
by Greg Kater
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Pub Date May 08 2018 | Archive Date Sep 16 2018
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Description
The Warramunga’s War is a sweeping narrative of the friendship that forms between a young Australian army officer, Jamie Munro, and an educated half-caste Warramunga aboriginal NCO, Jack ‘Jacko’ O’Brien, during the Syrian campaign against the Vichy French in World War II. Jacko rescues a wounded Jamie after which they are conscripted in Cairo by MI6. Here, Jamie and Jacko learn about the seamy side of war in counterespionage as they track down German spies. The principal fictional characters interact with actual historical figures and events throughout the story.
As the desert war escalates to the west of Cairo, the MI6 team confuses the enemy with misleading radio messages using German codes and using local entertainers as undercover agents. On one of his day leaves, Jacko meets a beautiful young Syrian-French girl and a strong romantic bond forms between the two during his time in Cairo.
Following the end of the desert war, Jamie and Jacko are assigned to wartime intelligence work in Southeast Asia. After the end of the Pacific war, they initiate the Darwin operations of the CIS, the Commonwealth Investigation Service. On the trail of two suspected wartime German agents, they discover the agents have formed a dangerous criminal gang with an individual they had known during their time in Cairo. The tracking skills of the Warramunga are needed to finally catch up with the murderous gang in Western Australia’s Kimberley region.
Advance Praise
A captivating, gritty, historical fiction novel "The Warramungas War" is well written, detailed, and hard to put down. It begins with Jamie and Jacko, who are military men that strangely become friends. The story takes place beginning in World War II. Jacko actually ends up rescuing Jamie and they finally get stationed in Cairo. If they didn't know about the "crooked" or political side of the military, they are learning about it now. I think it is cool how they have Jamie and Jacko communicating with real people from our actual history which adds to the realism of the story. There is a bit of romance as Jacko falls in love with a beutiful girl, but this is definitely more of an action-packed story of two friends during a turbulent time. The characters were very well-developed and relatable, as is some of the betrayal they face throughout the novel. I enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to historical fiction fans. - 5 Stars on Amazon
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9780648160748 |
| PRICE | |
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Featured Reviews
Jennifer C, Reviewer
‘Zap! Zap! Zap! The machine gun bullets thudded into Jamie’s knapsack …’
This novel, the first in a trilogy, follows the friendship that develops between Jamie Munro and Jack ‘Jacko’ O’Brien during the Syrian campaign against the Vichy French in World War II. Both are serving with the Australian Army when the story opens: Jamie is an officer, Jacko is an NCO. Their friendship and then a working partnership begins when Jacko rescues Jamie after he is wounded. Jamie is from New South Wales while Jacko identifies as part-Aboriginal, a Warramunga from the Tennant Creek region.
After Jamie recovers from his injuries, Jacko and Jamie become part of an MI6 team in Cairo. The main objective of this team is to disrupt German operations in the desert west of Cairo. Local entertainers are some of the undercover agents used, misleading radio messages using German codes are sent, and Jacko meets Monique a beautiful young French-Syrian woman.
When the desert war is finished, Jamie and Jacko are assigned to wartime intelligence work in Southeast Asia. Once the Pacific War concludes, Jamie and Jacko are involved in the Darwin operations of the Commonwealth Investigation Service. While on the trail of suspected German agents, they discover a connection with someone they had known in Cairo.
What can I say about this novel? I dislike references to Aboriginal people as ‘half-caste’, although I appreciate that the term may have been considered less offensive in the 1940s than it is now. While I found the story easy to follow, there were quite a few people (and quite a lot of action) to keep track of. I liked that Jacko and Jamie were equally important in the story, which demonstrated very clearly the novel’s central themes of loyalty and mateship.
As soon as I finished, I started reading the second novel in the trilogy, because I wanted to know what would happen next.
Note: My thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Allyn N, Educator
A brilliant trip back to WW2 in the Middle East \ African border as Rommel is making his push for Egypt. Based on fact passed down by the author's family. Beautiful settings both in Egypt and in Australia, interesting and quirky characters with a good solid plot. A book for everyone not just fans of war fact \ fiction.
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