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Corporal Hitler’s Pistol

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( 294 ratings, 41 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Corporal Hitler’s Pistol by Tom Keneally is a captivating tale set in a small Australian town during the interwar period. It follows an Indigenous soldier whose life intertwines with historical events, as the mysterious appearance of a gun tied to Hitler sparks intrigue and tension. The narrative explores themes of identity, legacy, and the hidden impacts of history within a community on the edge of change.
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book may appeal to you if you enjoy stories weaving historical intrigue with deep personal narratives. Set in Australia, it explores the connections between a stolen gun and a small town, delving into themes of war, identity, and the shadows of past actions. Tom Keneally's storytelling captures a compelling snapshot of post-World War I society infused with complex character dynamics.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Winner of the 2022 ARA Historical Novel Prize.

How did Corporal Hitler's Luger from the First World War end up being the weapon that killed an IRA turncoat in Kempsey, New South Wales, in 1933?

When an affluent Kempsey matron spots a young Aboriginal boy who bears an uncanny resemblance to her husband, not only does she scream for divorce, attempt to take control of the child's future, and upend her comfortable life, but the whole town seems drawn into chaos.

A hero of the First World War has a fit at the cinema and is taken to a psychiatric ward in Sydney, his Irish farmhand is murdered, and a gay piano-playing veteran, quietly a friend to many in town, is implicated.

Corporal Hitler’s Pistol speaks to the never-ending war that began with 'the war to end all wars'. Rural communities have always been a melting pot and many are happy to accept a diverse bunch ... as long as they don't overstep. Set in a town he knows very well, in this novel Tom Keneally tells a compelling story of the interactions and relationships between black and white Australians in early twentieth-century Australia.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Corporal Hitler’s Pistol by Tom Keneally has been met with appreciation for its engaging storytelling and nuanced characters. Reviewers have noted Keneally’s adept handling of historical events and the way he intertwines them with a personal narrative. The novel's exploration of themes such as identity and history have been lauded for their depth and complexity.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781760893231

Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 15 June 2022

Country: Australia

Imprint: Penguin Random House Australia

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 352

About the Author

Tom Keneally won the Booker Prize in 1982 with Schindler's Ark, later made into the Steven Spielberg Academy Award-winning film Schindler's List. His non-fiction includes the memoir Searching for Schindler and Three Famines, an LA Times Book of the Year, and the histories The Commonwealth of Thieves, The Great Shame and American Scoundrel. His fiction includes Shame and the Captives, The Daughters of Mars, The Widow and Her Hero, An Angel in Australia and Bettany's Book. His novels The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Gossip from the Forest, and Confederates were all shortlisted for the Booker Prize, while Bring Larks and Heroes and Three Cheers for the Paraclete won the Miles Franklin Award. In 2022, his novel Corporal Hitler's Pistol was awarded the ARA Historical Novel Prize.

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