Title: Heading Home
Author: Karl Gibbons
Publisher: XlibrisAU
ISBN: 1543409601
Pages: 226
Genre: Fiction
Synopsis
Johnathon and Bib returned home to Australia separately. Both were wounded physically and emotionally, neither one knowing if their friend had survived the war. Bib had their plane and Ruth to eventually help him cope with civilian life back on the farm. Johnathon wandered around lost for some time until he discovered how inadequate the orthopedic treatment was for the wounded veterans. He decided he had to do something and threw himself in a career in medicine. The long hours and heavy workload seemed to quieten the demons he carried inside since the war. A chance meeting many years later reignited their friendship, their family and friends learning about their university life in England before enlisting in the British air force at the start of the Second World War. Johnathon went on to become a highly decorated pilot but would not—or, in his own words, could not—accept he was a war hero. As the stories started to unfold, it was only then Elizabeth became aware of how troubled Johnathon had been since he returned from the war. The decision to return the plane and the ashes of their friend Tom home to England was to give the two friends a chance to visit old haunts and deal with the memories and emotions they had harbored for many years.
About the Author
Karl Gibbons was born in 1949 and raised in what would today be described as an underprivileged suburb. He left school at the age of 15 to pursue an apprenticeship as a Panel Beater, before entering the world of Automotive Design where he enjoyed a career spanning some 39 years. The son of a POW, he has long held an emotional interest in the war and post war era and the effects on our veterans. It is no surprise that his first novel would be centred around the war and the families that were left to cope alone with the returned serviceman and women and the struggles they had, as they tried to return to some resemblance of normal life.
