Making Shadows

Making Shadows spans the period from the fall of Singapore in World War 2 to the WelcomeHome Parade for Vietnam veterans in 1987. It is a story about what appear to be opposites -life and death, light and shadow, war and peace - when, in fact, they are the same.Joe is a National Service conscript. Assigned to his four-man tent at Nui Dat base, he isscrutinised by three regulars of the 1st Australian Task Force in Vietnam. Once they learn hehas a degree in psychology, he is nicknamed Shrink.The story follows the diggers through their time in Vietnam, and their subsequent personalbattles in the aftermath of the war - PTSD, drug use and organised crime, murder andrevenge, heartache and good fortune.As the story proceeds, we learn about Frank, Joe's father, and his time as a Japanese POW.We follow Joe's adopted First Nations sister, Dot, as she weaves her way through the family'spost-war traumas and achievements, as well as her own path through racial prejudice toprofessional and personal fulfilment. What she and Joe don't know is that they share the samebiological father, a secret withheld by Frank and their grandmother Winn.