24 October 2005
The Long Green Shore
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by John Hepworth
Everyone was very casual about it - carefully laconic. For the old soldier it was another move - there had been plenty like this before - they knew what was coming. But the new men could sense the breath of the unknown and mysterious enemy - the shadows of the long green shore - and violence and death they did not know but had often dreamed about.
Written in 1947, John Hepworth's novel is an authentic and moving account of Australian soldiers under fire in New Guinea in the closing stages of World War Two. The product of personal experience, The Long Green Shore burns with the immediacy of a young man's memory. In direct and unsentimental detail, it recounts the lives - and deaths - of a group of soldiers fighting an obscure battle in a corner of the rain-soaked jungle. Written with vivid intensity, it captures the unholy excitement, the terrors, and the slow-acid burning monotony of war.
Reader: Bill Young
Transcript
This transcript was typed from a recording of the program. The ABC cannot guarantee its complete accuracy because of the possibility of mishearing and occasional difficulty in identifying speakers.
Sound Engineer: Andre Shabunov
Abridged, produced and directed by: Libby Douglas
The Long Green Shore is published by Picador
Concludes 11 November 2005
