White Lies - Where There Is Smoke
Based on a true story, White Lies, is set in ‘God’s Own Country’, in Walwa, Northeast Victoria, in 1939, in the period between the devastating Black Friday Bushfire disaster and the last months of "peace" before World War II. It is a delicious mix of crime, mystery, history and intrigue.
A fiery car wreck extinguishes the life of Raymond (Dickie) White’s devoted wife, Elizabeth, and catapults him to the attention of enthusiastic police investigators and newspaper journalists. The local rumour mill is in overdrive and newspapers are provided with sensationalised copy for a national audience who are clamouring for more of the intriguing story.
Is White the victim of small-town gossip, hounded by misinterpretations of his actions? Did the horrors of his war service impact on his actions? Is he a cunning, scheming individual who manipulates situations and takes advantage of innocents to achieve his ambitions? Is the “evidence” as revealing as the police attest?
White’s life unravels as his web of lies is unpicked by the persistent, dedicated investigations of police utilising new-age forensic techniques and insightful deductions. As the net closes around him, he is left with only one option for escape.
Autographed copies of Janice Newnham's books can be ordered directly from the author. They are also available on most online book retail platforms, but preferably, support your local bookshop!
Good bookshops will order a copy for you from the distributor.
From The Inside
Isolated from friends and family and enmeshed in the fight to defend her family’s farm from the 2019/2020 Black Summer fires, Janice Newnham was moved to document and communicate the situation to the outside world via Facebook posts.
It started as a need to quickly reassure worried friends and family, but soon became a mental health exercise, a necessity to unload by uploading to Facebook!
This book represents the first nine weeks of an ongoing story of the impact of bushfire disaster on a small rural community and is representative of many Australian farmers and rural communities during an unprecedented bushfire season: The Black Summer.