Book excerpt: In 1914 young husbands and sons set off in high spirits for the grand adventure of war, a war promised to be over by Christmas. Little do they or their loved ones realise that four long years of horror lay ahead. The First World War shatters the peaceful lives of newlywed Australian immigrants, Walter and Winifred. Their families lie over the ocean in England, their brothers fight on the battlefields of Europe. Torn by loyalties, they set off on a perilous sea journey during wartime, shortly after the sinking of the Lusitania by German U-boats. But their neighbour, Lisbette, a girl with a mysterious past, must stay to live in anguish in Australia, unable to return to her native France. The scene shifts from Australia to Gallipoli and the battlefields of Flanders, culminating at the mystical Mont-Saint-Michel off the Normandy coast. Here, Effie, one of many tiny victims of the war, finds refuge in the centuries-old monastery. It is all a matter of time. Will authorities find Effie’s parents at the war’s end? How long can Winifred’s brother, Gustave, survive the trenches? And can returning soldiers escape the deadly grip of the Spanish flu? Whether read as a stand-alone novel or sequel to Whispers Through Time, this drama will tear at your heartstrings, especially as it is based on a true story.