GREYHOUND - Sid MarshWood Shed - NZ$39.99
ISBN: 978-0-473-20000-8
Pub. date: March 2012
ABOUT THE BOOK
Five members of a Sherman tank crew – somewhere in Italy, taking on not just Nazi paratroopers and Tiger tanks, but also each other . . .
Opening in June 1944, Greyhound is an historical novel that sheds light on a largely unexplored chapter of New Zealand’s wartime record. It follows the advance of the 2nd New Zealand Division to the Adriatic coast and eastward to the very borders of Jugoslavia. The Germans confront the advancing Allies with all of their remaining matériel, from concealed snipers to the feared Tiger tank; but by May 1945 the ‘Div’ reaches Trieste, where the Allies are caught between complex partisan factions and pitched against the communist army of Tito. And so the Kiwis leap from the flames of World War Two straight into the opening round of the Cold War.
Blending historical accuracy with a vivid sense of ‘being there’, and laced with the laconic humour typical of the Kiwi soldier, this debut novel from Taranaki writer Sid Marsh powerfully evokes the tensions of tank combat in a war zone riven by shifting political allegiances.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sid Marsh is 55 years old and lives in Taranaki, New Zealand. He has been involved in wildlife conservation for 20 years, specialising in forest birds. He is currently researching the Bengal tiger. This is his first novel.
CONTACT
Matt Turner, email: shedpub@gmail.com
well I've never read the book. But I knew Sid Marsh years ago as we were monitoring kokako together. I remember one afternoon coming home from getting supplies, we drove past some road workers. Sid then started telling me about being a grader driver some years before. Sid can find the poetry and romance in anything, the way he described the art and soul of grading a road, I swear I wanted to sign up for a tour of driving a grader.
ReplyDeleteAs young men we discussed what we would be doing in our fifties, and Sid is doing just what he said he would. I am certain Sid has brought to live as only this story and a theater of the second world war my grandfather fought in and never talked about. So I thank him for that and I will read his book.
As soon as he releases it on the ipad ( remember what I said about computers and books)! - Na I like the smell of books too.
Go well mate.
Stephen Rodda