| Some say all Sophia Randall thinks of are romance novels and dance frocks… That may have been true once, but when war broke out, reaching even to our isolated corner of the bush, my priorities changed. I now read news from afar and dance but rarely. Only my love for the Almighty God, for family and friends, for the man who captured my heart, for the bush, and for the call of the curlew haven’t changed. Especially the call of the curlew. Some say it’s mournful—even sinister—but I’ve always delighted in that lonely cry heralding the end of another day. And when Kenny went off to war, it became a promise—a reminder of his love and determination to return. |  |
When the unthinkable happens, my prayers become listless. New challenges surface. Ghostly footsteps join the coal trucks rumbling through town. Dingoes lurk in the shadows. Valuables vanish. A… presence chases me through the bush. Burdens weigh me down, and I forget to remember.
But is all lost? Would the pain in my heart be easier to bear if I stopped to listen for the curlews’ call?
Loosely based on “The Boy Who Disappeared”, When the Curlews Call is a story of ghostly doings, missing airmen, and a young girl desperate to keep the home fires burning when all hope seems lost. Told through a series of letters, readers will follow Sophia’s journey, sharing her triumphs and trials all through the long, dark days of World War II.
But is all lost? Would the pain in my heart be easier to bear if I stopped to listen for the curlews’ call?
Loosely based on “The Boy Who Disappeared”, When the Curlews Call is a story of ghostly doings, missing airmen, and a young girl desperate to keep the home fires burning when all hope seems lost. Told through a series of letters, readers will follow Sophia’s journey, sharing her triumphs and trials all through the long, dark days of World War II.
Genre: Christian Historical Mystery, Fairytale retelling
Release Date: September 5, 2023
Release Date: September 5, 2023
Click here to get your copy!
Interview with Joanne
1. How long did it take to finish writing this book?
When the Curlews Call was my NaNoWriMo project a couple of years ago, so it took roughly a month.
When the Curlews Call was my NaNoWriMo project a couple of years ago, so it took roughly a month.
2. Do you have favorite character(s) in this book?
Hans was a fun character. He doesn’t feature much, but he had a sense of humor that showed on the page, and was just that little bit wacky and wild enough to make him fun to write.
Hans was a fun character. He doesn’t feature much, but he had a sense of humor that showed on the page, and was just that little bit wacky and wild enough to make him fun to write.
3. How did you name your characters?
For this book, I needed names that were appropriate for the time period and the setting. As an Aussie myself, I was able to pull up my family tree and start looking for names. It took a little back and forth—sorting by preference, and then comparing the options to the characters to see what fit—but I was able to find a name for every main character from that tree. That took care of the setting—all of those names were used in Australia, so I didn’t have to worry about choosing a name that would have been out of place culturally. At the same time, I also made sure the names I chose were used in real life either during the time period my book was written or before. That way I knew for sure that anyone could have been called by those names and I wasn’t throwing something modern into an historical setting.
For this book, I needed names that were appropriate for the time period and the setting. As an Aussie myself, I was able to pull up my family tree and start looking for names. It took a little back and forth—sorting by preference, and then comparing the options to the characters to see what fit—but I was able to find a name for every main character from that tree. That took care of the setting—all of those names were used in Australia, so I didn’t have to worry about choosing a name that would have been out of place culturally. At the same time, I also made sure the names I chose were used in real life either during the time period my book was written or before. That way I knew for sure that anyone could have been called by those names and I wasn’t throwing something modern into an historical setting.
4. Tell us something funny, sad, embarrassing, whatever, that happened involving this book.
When I was doing the research for Curlews, I thought it would be a great idea to ask questions in a local-to-that area FB group. I’d been a member of that group for a while and knew that a lot of the older people in that group grew up in the area my book was set. They would often share a photo from that time period, or start reminiscing about the good old days, so surely they’d enjoy talking about the area if I worded my questions correctly…
And they did enjoy talking about the area. However, the moment I mentioned I was an author, they stopped talking. Any question I asked was met with complete silence, or a gruff, “Talk to So-and-so.” Which was all well and good, but the “So-and-so” they referred to just happened to be a local. And talking to anyone in person is kind of hard to do when I just happen to live on the other side of the globe! After a little butting up against a brick wall trying to explain that no, I couldn’t just drop by the nursing home and talk to this old-timer, one lady came back and pointed me in the direction of a website where I could search old newspapers. Thanks to extensive reading and saving articles that made any mention of the town (Blair Athol, Qld), most of the events my characters mention that happened in the area during the time of the book were real events taken from those newspapers.
When I was doing the research for Curlews, I thought it would be a great idea to ask questions in a local-to-that area FB group. I’d been a member of that group for a while and knew that a lot of the older people in that group grew up in the area my book was set. They would often share a photo from that time period, or start reminiscing about the good old days, so surely they’d enjoy talking about the area if I worded my questions correctly…
And they did enjoy talking about the area. However, the moment I mentioned I was an author, they stopped talking. Any question I asked was met with complete silence, or a gruff, “Talk to So-and-so.” Which was all well and good, but the “So-and-so” they referred to just happened to be a local. And talking to anyone in person is kind of hard to do when I just happen to live on the other side of the globe! After a little butting up against a brick wall trying to explain that no, I couldn’t just drop by the nursing home and talk to this old-timer, one lady came back and pointed me in the direction of a website where I could search old newspapers. Thanks to extensive reading and saving articles that made any mention of the town (Blair Athol, Qld), most of the events my characters mention that happened in the area during the time of the book were real events taken from those newspapers.
5. Tell us a little about yourself, your family, friends.
Family… When I’m asked to share something about my family, nothing really seems interesting enough to tell. I was born in Australia and lived there until my hubby and I got married. Very soon after the wedding, we moved to the US and have lived here ever since. Kind of boring, really. However, if we go back a little further and dig a little more into the history of our families, things get a little more interesting.
One branch of my family tree can be traced back to 1808 when the first of our ancestors to set foot on Australian soil arrived as a convict. Jane was only 18 years old, and I’m not sure what she was sent to the penal colony for, but she met and married a fellow convict and went on to become a free settler and live out her life in Australia. Her only daughter married and had a daughter and if you continue the line from mother to daughter, eight generations later I was born.
Convicts aside, not all of my family were criminally minded. Many were free settlers. Others were upstanding citizens with interesting stories to tell like my Great-Great Grandfather who liked to tell people that he rode with Ned Kelly. Anyone who knows Australian history will know that Ned Kelly was a famous bushranger, rather notorious really. And they’ll also know the names of his gang, and none of those names coincided with any of the names on our family tree. Which would make it appear that this Great-Great Grandfather had fabricated the story. But he didn’t. It was true. He really did ride with Ned Kelly.
Maybe not in the way one would be led to believe, but one day he was riding down the road, minding his own business, when Ned Kelly rode out of the bush on the side of the track and fell in beside my Great-Great Grandfather. They continued on their way, riding side-by-side until Ned Kelly veered off the track again and disappeared into the bush.
Whichever way you look at it, he… rode with Ned Kelly.
To me, that was always interesting to think about. Did they talk? Did Ned Kelly have anything interesting to say? Did my Great-Great Grandfather feel threatened or concerned? I don’t know the answers to those questions, but I do know that he couldn’t have known that the man he rode beside had a sister or a cousin who went on to have a family, and that family line continued until it came to a man who got married and became a step-father to a man whose daughter is… writing this. Yep. On one side of the family you have a man who could joke about having ridden with Ned Kelly and on the other you have a direct descendant of someone related to Ned Kelly. How’s that for a cool coincidence?
Family… When I’m asked to share something about my family, nothing really seems interesting enough to tell. I was born in Australia and lived there until my hubby and I got married. Very soon after the wedding, we moved to the US and have lived here ever since. Kind of boring, really. However, if we go back a little further and dig a little more into the history of our families, things get a little more interesting.
One branch of my family tree can be traced back to 1808 when the first of our ancestors to set foot on Australian soil arrived as a convict. Jane was only 18 years old, and I’m not sure what she was sent to the penal colony for, but she met and married a fellow convict and went on to become a free settler and live out her life in Australia. Her only daughter married and had a daughter and if you continue the line from mother to daughter, eight generations later I was born.
Convicts aside, not all of my family were criminally minded. Many were free settlers. Others were upstanding citizens with interesting stories to tell like my Great-Great Grandfather who liked to tell people that he rode with Ned Kelly. Anyone who knows Australian history will know that Ned Kelly was a famous bushranger, rather notorious really. And they’ll also know the names of his gang, and none of those names coincided with any of the names on our family tree. Which would make it appear that this Great-Great Grandfather had fabricated the story. But he didn’t. It was true. He really did ride with Ned Kelly.
Maybe not in the way one would be led to believe, but one day he was riding down the road, minding his own business, when Ned Kelly rode out of the bush on the side of the track and fell in beside my Great-Great Grandfather. They continued on their way, riding side-by-side until Ned Kelly veered off the track again and disappeared into the bush.
Whichever way you look at it, he… rode with Ned Kelly.
To me, that was always interesting to think about. Did they talk? Did Ned Kelly have anything interesting to say? Did my Great-Great Grandfather feel threatened or concerned? I don’t know the answers to those questions, but I do know that he couldn’t have known that the man he rode beside had a sister or a cousin who went on to have a family, and that family line continued until it came to a man who got married and became a step-father to a man whose daughter is… writing this. Yep. On one side of the family you have a man who could joke about having ridden with Ned Kelly and on the other you have a direct descendant of someone related to Ned Kelly. How’s that for a cool coincidence?
Enjoy an Excerpt!
Sunday, 17th September, 1939
My dear friend Lilian,
The war has hardly begun and already I wish it were over! From the way they talk, we live in daily fear that my beloved brothers, Hans and Peter, will enlist. They hardly talk of anything else. Hans has begun to wave goodbye in the morning with a cheery—as only Hans can manage!—warning that Mum ought not be surprised if he should sign up before nightfall.
It’s only a joke, but there is a serious glint in his eyes that would seem to imply he is thinking it through. I don’t know why, but he seems to be biding his time.
Perhaps for Mum’s sake? It’s so near Christmas—only a little more than three months—it would not be a surprise if he waited until after that date, because we all know how much the Yuletide season means to our mother.
As much as I would hate to see them go, they feel very strongly about doing their bit. Which one cannot fault them for!
But when I think of the other boys from our district, my heart grows heavy. When will they feel the call to serve God and country? When will we be forced to say goodbye to those we love?
In particular, when will he feel the call to serve?
Oh, how I wish you were here so we could sneak away for one of our late-night yarns. Curled up in the hammocks with our blankets pulled to our chins, and the stars shining overheard as we share the deepest secrets of our hearts. I know you are doing the right thing there in the city, dearest Lilian, but oh, how I miss you!
Don’t mind me. It’s just that I feel particularly emotional tonight, and as I listen to the curlews call and try not to spill tears onto my paper, I will attempt to share as we used to do face to face.
Changes have come to our little town since you’ve been gone. The Salvation Army hall was sold to the Methodist church, and they have begun to remodel the building to be used for services. I miss our little meetings held there, but Mum is longing forward to the day when she can sit down in a good old-fashioned Methodist church again.
Did you know that the McCormicks regularly attend the Methodist church in Clermont?! I only learned that yesterday, and I learned it from a very reliable source.
Kenny! Yes, you read that right.
Kenneth McCormick himself told me that his family regularly attends church in Clermont, but now that we have our own little Methodist church, he might consider coming here. He’s often over this way to visit his cousin Duncan at the Birimgan sawmill, so he didn’t see why they couldn’t ride into Blair Athol for church before he goes back to his father’s station, Wallaby Run.
I’m sure you are wondering how I came to be talking to Kenny, and that, my dear friend, is why I wish you were here. It would be so much easier to tell you what happened than to write it out. But we cannot change our circumstances by wishing, so I’ll do my best.
Early yesterday morning, Dad trucked a huge load of wethers in. There was a slight mix-up in the time the train arrived, so the man who’d arranged to meet Dad hadn’t come by the time the train got here. I don’t know how or why, but there wasn’t anyone around to help unload, so Dad had me help. He had me don a pair of Peter’s dungarees and boots that were at least a dozen sizes too big. My only hope was that no one would see me, but sadly that wasn’t the case because…
Partway through unloading, Dad called for me to go into the yard with the sheep to close a gate. That would have been all fine and dandy, but just as I got the gate halfway closed, the sheep, being sheep, decided they didn’t want to be in that yard. They wanted to be in the other yard. The one I was trying to close them out of. So, they turned and charged, bleating like their lives depended on it.
I heard yelling but couldn’t decipher the meaning due to the noise of the bleating. All that came to mind was the need to get that gate closed.
However, remember those boots I had to wear? One caught on the other, and instead of closing the gate, the only feat I managed was to fall on my face in the dirt and muck in front of a mob of four thousand charging sheep.
I barely had time to cover my head with my arms before the first sheep rushed by me. My last thought was that this was it. I would never see Mum, Dad, my brothers, you, or Kenny ever again. All I could do was pray that the end would come as swiftly and as painlessly as possible.
Then something strange happened. Instead of being trampled to death, my body rose above the sheep. In my wild, fear-addled state, I momentarily thought death had come and my body being transported to the afterlife. I don’t think it happens that way, but one doesn’t think clearly when one is under the shocking impression one has died!
Only a moment passed before I realized that it wasn’t an angel carrying me, it was a man. One whose voice I recognized as Kenny’s the moment he yelled to Dad that I was okay.
But I wasn’t okay!
My dear friend Lilian,
The war has hardly begun and already I wish it were over! From the way they talk, we live in daily fear that my beloved brothers, Hans and Peter, will enlist. They hardly talk of anything else. Hans has begun to wave goodbye in the morning with a cheery—as only Hans can manage!—warning that Mum ought not be surprised if he should sign up before nightfall.
It’s only a joke, but there is a serious glint in his eyes that would seem to imply he is thinking it through. I don’t know why, but he seems to be biding his time.
Perhaps for Mum’s sake? It’s so near Christmas—only a little more than three months—it would not be a surprise if he waited until after that date, because we all know how much the Yuletide season means to our mother.
As much as I would hate to see them go, they feel very strongly about doing their bit. Which one cannot fault them for!
But when I think of the other boys from our district, my heart grows heavy. When will they feel the call to serve God and country? When will we be forced to say goodbye to those we love?
In particular, when will he feel the call to serve?
Oh, how I wish you were here so we could sneak away for one of our late-night yarns. Curled up in the hammocks with our blankets pulled to our chins, and the stars shining overheard as we share the deepest secrets of our hearts. I know you are doing the right thing there in the city, dearest Lilian, but oh, how I miss you!
Don’t mind me. It’s just that I feel particularly emotional tonight, and as I listen to the curlews call and try not to spill tears onto my paper, I will attempt to share as we used to do face to face.
Changes have come to our little town since you’ve been gone. The Salvation Army hall was sold to the Methodist church, and they have begun to remodel the building to be used for services. I miss our little meetings held there, but Mum is longing forward to the day when she can sit down in a good old-fashioned Methodist church again.
Did you know that the McCormicks regularly attend the Methodist church in Clermont?! I only learned that yesterday, and I learned it from a very reliable source.
Kenny! Yes, you read that right.
Kenneth McCormick himself told me that his family regularly attends church in Clermont, but now that we have our own little Methodist church, he might consider coming here. He’s often over this way to visit his cousin Duncan at the Birimgan sawmill, so he didn’t see why they couldn’t ride into Blair Athol for church before he goes back to his father’s station, Wallaby Run.
I’m sure you are wondering how I came to be talking to Kenny, and that, my dear friend, is why I wish you were here. It would be so much easier to tell you what happened than to write it out. But we cannot change our circumstances by wishing, so I’ll do my best.
Early yesterday morning, Dad trucked a huge load of wethers in. There was a slight mix-up in the time the train arrived, so the man who’d arranged to meet Dad hadn’t come by the time the train got here. I don’t know how or why, but there wasn’t anyone around to help unload, so Dad had me help. He had me don a pair of Peter’s dungarees and boots that were at least a dozen sizes too big. My only hope was that no one would see me, but sadly that wasn’t the case because…
Partway through unloading, Dad called for me to go into the yard with the sheep to close a gate. That would have been all fine and dandy, but just as I got the gate halfway closed, the sheep, being sheep, decided they didn’t want to be in that yard. They wanted to be in the other yard. The one I was trying to close them out of. So, they turned and charged, bleating like their lives depended on it.
I heard yelling but couldn’t decipher the meaning due to the noise of the bleating. All that came to mind was the need to get that gate closed.
However, remember those boots I had to wear? One caught on the other, and instead of closing the gate, the only feat I managed was to fall on my face in the dirt and muck in front of a mob of four thousand charging sheep.
I barely had time to cover my head with my arms before the first sheep rushed by me. My last thought was that this was it. I would never see Mum, Dad, my brothers, you, or Kenny ever again. All I could do was pray that the end would come as swiftly and as painlessly as possible.
Then something strange happened. Instead of being trampled to death, my body rose above the sheep. In my wild, fear-addled state, I momentarily thought death had come and my body being transported to the afterlife. I don’t think it happens that way, but one doesn’t think clearly when one is under the shocking impression one has died!
Only a moment passed before I realized that it wasn’t an angel carrying me, it was a man. One whose voice I recognized as Kenny’s the moment he yelled to Dad that I was okay.
But I wasn’t okay!
 Joanne Markey | Originally from Australia, Joanne Markey now lives in Ohio with her husband and seven children. When she’s not reading or writing, you might find her wandering the property with her kids in search of whatever seasonal treasure they’re trying to find. |
It's Time For A Giveaway!
To celebrate her tour, Joanne is giving away the grand prize package of
a $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!
a $25 Amazon gift card and a copy of the book!!
Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries!
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Stories By Gina, December 1 (Author Interview)
Locks, Hooks and Books, December 2
Beauty in the Binding, December 3 (Author Interview)
Life on Chickadee Lane, December 3
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 4
Artistic Nobody, December 5 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, December 6
Tell Tale Book Reviews, December 7 (Author Interview)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 8
Guild Master, December 9 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 10
Fiction Book Lover, December 11 (Author Interview)
Holly’s Book Corner, December 11
Connie’s History Classroom, December 12
Through the Fire Blogs, December 13 (Author Interview)
For Him and My Family, December 14
Locks, Hooks and Books, December 2
Beauty in the Binding, December 3 (Author Interview)
Life on Chickadee Lane, December 3
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, December 4
Artistic Nobody, December 5 (Author Interview)
Texas Book-aholic, December 6
Tell Tale Book Reviews, December 7 (Author Interview)
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, December 8
Guild Master, December 9 (Author Interview)
Happily Managing a Household of Boys, December 10
Fiction Book Lover, December 11 (Author Interview)
Holly’s Book Corner, December 11
Connie’s History Classroom, December 12
Through the Fire Blogs, December 13 (Author Interview)
For Him and My Family, December 14
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