Black Diamonds

It's 1914 and Lithgow is booming. Daniel is a young German-Australian, a coalminer and a socialist; Francine is the bourgeois, Irish-Catholic, too-good-for-this-place daughter of one of the mine's owners. When their paths collide, they fall in love despite themselves and it very quickly becomes apparent that their only option is to wed. But before the signatures on their marriage certificate are dry, World War I erupts, throwing in their path a new and much more terrifying obstacle.

Against his principles but driven by a sense of solidarity, Daniel enlists; Francine, horrified, has no choice but to support him. As they hurtle towards a daunting world of war, separation and grief, they each learn things about themselves and one another that they would never have expected in more certain times - about heroism, sacrifice, the thin line between courage and stupidity, and, most of all, about the magical power of love. A moving story of a tumultuous period in our history, Black Diamonds is a wonderful celebration of resilience, told with verve and an generous dash of humour