Judy Nunn - Pacific

Critical acclaim for Pacific :

A blockbuster in every sense of the word

Sydney Morning Herald

A fabulous read

Womans Day

Pacific is a perfect book for readers who like a well-written, historically interesting blockbuster

Australian Bookseller & Publisher

One of Nunns best

Newcastle Herald

A rattling good yarn of secrets and passions

Australian Womens Weekly

An enjoyable big read

Pittwater Life

Pacific is sure to satisfy Nunns big readership

West Australian

This thoroughly enjoyable novel moves effortlessly between past and present, building layer upon layer of characterisation and plot

Good Reading

A big, compelling read

Sunday Times (Perth)

A well-researched and heartwarming novel

The Advocate

A masterful interweaving of the lives of two passionate women and two worlds Epic

Border Mail

A powerful novel of love and revenge set in a Pacific paradise

Illawarra Mercury

From stage actor and international television star to blockbuster best-selling author, Judy Nunns career has been meteoric.

Her first forays into adult fiction resulted in what she describes as her entertainment set. The Glitter Game, Centre Stage and Araluen , three novels set in the worlds of television, theatre and film respectively, each became instant bestsellers.

Next came her city set: Kal , a fiercely passionate novel about men and mining set in Kalgoorlie; Beneath the Southern Cross , a mammoth achievement chronicling the story of Sydney since first European settlement; and Territory , a tale of love, family and retribution set in Darwin.

Territory , together with Judys next novel, Pacific , a dual story set principally in Vanuatu, placed her firmly in Australias top-ten bestseller list. Her following works, Heritage , set in the Snowies during the 1950s, Floodtide , based in her home state of Western Australia, and Maralinga , have consolidated her position as one of the countrys leading fiction writers. Her eagerly awaited new novel, Tiger Men , will publish in November 2011.

Judy Nunns fame as a novelist is spreading rapidly. Her books are now published throughout Europe in English, German, French, Dutch and Czech.

Judy lives with her husband, actor-author Bruce Venables, on the Central Coast of New South Wales.

By the same author

The Glitter Game

Centre Stage

Araluen

Kal

Territory

Beneath the Southern Cross

Heritage

Floodtide

Maralinga

Tiger Men

Childrens fiction

Eye in the Storm

Eye in the City

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968 ), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

An Arrow book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au

First published by Random House Australia 2004
This Arrow edition published 2005, 2007, 2011

Copyright Judy Nunn 2004

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968 ), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia.

Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at
www.randomhouse.com.au/offices

National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry

Nunn, Judy.
Pacific/Judy Nunn.

ISBN 978 1 86471 252 0 (pbk.)

Motion picture actors and actresses Fiction.
World War, 19391945 Campaigns Pacific Area Fiction.
Nurses Fiction.

A823.3

To the next generation,
Brett and Nathan,
Sam and Cory.
Love to you and your families and
to those who will follow.

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My thanks, first and foremost, to my husband Bruce Venables. Brucie, you are a true gem.

Thank you also to the pals and workmates: my agent James Laurie; my publisher Jane Palfreyman; my editor Kim Swivel; all at Random House Australia; and as always, Robyn Gurney, Colin Julin and Dr Grahame Hookway.

For the provision of authors retreats, many thanks Suzie and Grahame for the writers room, and Rob and Dee for the cabana.

And for assistance in the research of this book my sincerest thanks to the following:

In Fareham: Maralyn of the Tourist Information Centre at Westbury Manor Museum, all those at Bembridge House, Ferneham Hall.

In Vanuatu: Roz Rose, Tony Young, Gerry and Jan Smelik of Tamanu Beach Resort, Matthew Erceg of Sea Air Limited, Paul and Helene Gibson, Pat Bochenska and Gillian Mitride.

In Sydney: Suzie Clark of Fox Studios, Gillian Simpson of the Australian National Maritime Museum, and Nick Truswell and his helpful staff at the Quay Grand Hotel.

Amongst my many research sources, I would like particularly to recognise the following: Reece Discombe, historical papers, Vanuatu Library, Port Vila, 1979.

Lt Colonel Ritchie Garrison, USA (Ret), Task Force 9156 and III Island Command , 1983.

Irving and Electra Johnson, Yankee Roams the Orient, National Geographic (March 1951).

Richard Shears, The Coconut War , Cassell Australia Limited, 1980.

Colonial History of Vanuatu, www.vanuatutourism.com .

PROLOGUE

The elements were peaceful. A cloudless sky, a gentle breeze, an unruffled sea. It should have been a perfect summer morning. And the beach should have been inviting. Terrace houses, some five storeys high, fronted onto the broad expanse of sand, a pretty setting, echoing past holiday-makers delight. But it was no holiday haven today.

Today black smoke dimmed the sun, and the sea and sky merged to a murky grey as layer upon layer of German aircraft swooped from high to unleash their 1,000-pound bombs on the English destroyers. The elements were peaceful, but mankind was bent on death and destruction.

Martin Thackeray lay on the deck, clinging to the gunwales of the small wooden fishing boat as the Stukas roared overhead. The boat had pulled out to sea and was in the midst of the havoc being wreaked upon the British warships. He looked back at the shore barely a mile away, at the beach and the houses. He thought of Margate where his family used to holiday annually when he was a child and he tried to blot out the smoke and the exploding shells and the bodies bobbing about in the oil-blackened sea. He concentrated on the beach and the houses. It could have been Margate, he thought. And the long V-formation of soldiers marching down to the shore could have been holiday-makers. He clung to the thought as rigidly as he clung to the gunwales, fearful of losing consciousness, for the loss of consciousness meant the loss of his life. Why did death frighten him so? he wondered. Hed seen many men die. Now it was his time. He must accept it. But somehow he couldnt. Guilt mingled with his pain. Had he lost his faith? Why was he so fearful of meeting his Maker? He chastised himself, urged himself to make his peace with God, accept his fate, but even as he did so he couldnt resist the need to fight back. The pain once again engulfed him and, desperately, he thought of Margate and his childhood. Stay alive, his mind urged, stay alive.