Through different Eyes
Description
As the Cold War rages, twelve-year-old Colette (Col) Schmidt, flees Leipzig with her mother after they discover her secret policeman father is a Nazi war criminal.
Settled in England by MI6, the lies Col must tell to hide her true origins weigh down her budding friendships. She makes inadvertent slips that expose her origins to her friends, but these reinforce and deepen their relationships. After MI6 use the pair as bait to lure out communist agents, they ship Colette and her mother to Australia. There, she is forced to use her linguistic skills to spy on the migrant communities. The risk of exposure causes the lies to proliferate and her internal conflict intensifies.
Masking her truth in necessary lies, she finds support from a school friend, a Russian émigré and a first World War Scottish soldier. But the lies she must tell and their cargo of guilt take her to the brink of a breakdown.
Can Colette find a way past the lies - without bringing the communist assassins to her door?
Finalist in the 2023 PageTurner Awards
More details
Person
Robert was educated in the UK but emigrated to Australia after completing a degree in aerospace. He currently lives in Brisbane but has also lived in Melbourne and the Pilbara region in Australia and in the USA. He has worked in research and information systems and is currently teaching Mathematics and Physics. He is married, with two children, one grandson and several step grandchildren. He shares his day-to-day life with his wife, Rozz, two ginger cats (Hypatia and Eratosthenes) and a black labradoodle (Ana).
He loves classical music (particularly opera) as does his wife and satisfies his life-long love affair with flying by soaring in gliders. His longest flight is over 800km and he is still trying to fly over 1000 km in a single flight.
Advance notice:
Through different Eyes, the sequel to Through my Eyes. Again. is underway with publication expected in mid 2022.