Ronan's Echo

"Did we have any relatives die in the First World War?"

Forensic Anthropologist Kat Kelso's innocent question begins the unravelling of a hundred years of family history, lies and secrets.

In 1916 twin brothers Denny and Connor Ronan are eager to get to the war before it's all over; Bridie O'Malley, their childhood friend and the woman they both love, watches them leave, understanding too late that war is about more than heroes and handsome boys in uniform.

Nearly a century on from the disastrous battle of Fromelles, Kat Kelso, Bridie's great granddaughter, is on site in France identifying the recovered bodies of lost Australian soldiers. The discovery of her own relative amongst the dead men brings Kat, her mother Fiona and great-aunt Hattie, far more questions than answers.

The wounds of love and war have devastating consequences that ripple across time.

About the Author

Joanne van Os was born in Sydney and raised in Melbourne, the eldest of six children. After working as a laboratory technician she moved to the Northern Territory in 1976 to be the radio operator at a remote Aboriginal community. Since then, her jobs have included bull catcher, buffalo station owner, home school teacher, electorate officer for an independent MP, boat hire business owner/operator, cartoonist and mother of three children. Her first book, Outback Heart, was published in 2005, and followed by children's novels Brumby Plains, Castaway and The Secret of the Lonely Isles. She lives in Darwin with her husband Lex Silvester on their boat. Ronan's Echo is her fifth book.