I had my first book, “Goodbye Crackernight”, published in 2009, a comic memoir of growing up in 1970s Australia, back in a long-lost era when a child’s proudest possession was not a Playstation but a second-hand bike. “Goodbye Crackernight” was so warmly received by Australian readers that it secured me a place on the program of the prestigious Byron Bay Writers’ Festival 2010.

“Nor the Years Condemn” is based on the true history of how, in World War 2, the best and brightest of a generation were picked to become fighter pilots to fight against Nazi Germany, this ‘cream of the crop’ selection being a simple necessity for the awesome job at hand. I am passionate to tell this story not only because it’s one of the noblest, most exciting and tragic sagas imaginable, but also as this ‘cream of the crop’ fact of history allows for the most amazing characters in fictional format: The young men picked to fly the iconic Supermarine Spitfire against Nazism were superlative sports stars, the most intelligent and delightful, sometimes hilarious young men. The fact that they had a 1-in-3 chance of survival makes the loss of so many of them incredibly heart-rending for the reader of my story. And that is indeed the essence of its title, “Nor the Years Condemn”: For it is not only the story of young men fighting and winning the noblest possible fight but also the story of shining young men destined never to become old, and of those who do: the survivors ‘condemned by the years’ to their memory of friends who remain forever young.

Please let me know your thoughts.
Yours sincerely
Justin Sheedy.