By Danielle Davey
Bringing the past to life, Danielle Binks’ latest novel hits close to home through its evocative characters and local setting. The award-winning author gleaned inspiration for Shakespeare in the Orchard from her home town, reimagining Langwarrin at the start of World War I.
Today, concrete ruins at Langwarrin Flora and Fauna Reserve mark its history as a military training ground and hospital. Between 1914 and August 1915, however, the site served as one of only three internment camps in Australia, housing more than 900 German, Austrian and Turkish ‘enemy aliens’.
In Shakespeare in the Orchard, the proximity of the prisoners causes tensions in the town to run high. For 14-year-old Jack Thorning – a student at Langwarrin Primary School and the best marksman in military cadet training – the war feels closer than ever.
His father dead, his older brother at war, Jack succumbs to the frenzied rhetoric of a man he admires. His cadet leader and teacher – a veteran of the Boer War and a staunch imperialist – is eventually rebuked for inciting “excitement and emotion, rather than calmness” about the war, blatantly flouting the education system. Soon, Jack begins to question everything.
“Like the rest of the town, Jack and his best friend Walter want nothing to do with the German prisoners,” Danielle said. “But as the war progresses, the inmates at the camp are put to work doing manual labour on the farms around Langwarrin, including Jack’s family orchard, and Jack begins to see that the prisoners are people too.”
Danielle’s research revealed that a small number of prisoners arrived by rail, but most were rounded up locally. Anyone with a Germanic-sounding name was imprisoned, and the result was a hotchpotch of inmates of all ages and walks of life, including skilled craftsmen, musicians and artists.
In the novel, Jack is surprised to learn of the inmates’ plan to perform Shakespeare’s Hamlet. How could such men know of the Bard, let alone understand his famous play? These Germans are nothing like he has been led to believe.
Just as he begins thinking critically about the complexities of war, reports arrive announcing the attack on Anzac troops at Gallipoli.
Danielle, who has qualifications in journalism, majoring in geopolitics, has long been intrigued by world events in times of conflict, a fascination shared with her father. The pair devoured the TV series The World at War together. With an upbringing steeped in Australian content, however – including ABC-TV and homegrown book titles like Ruth Park’s Playing Beatie Bow – she turned her focus to local history.
Her debut novel, The Year the Maps Changed – shortlisted for the 2021 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and named a CBCA Notable Book for Younger Readers – was similarly anchored on the Mornington Peninsula against the backdrop of war.
Recommended for readers aged 10 to 13+, Shakespeare in the Orchard will be published in July and can be ordered at daniellebinks.com or booksellers including Farrells Bookshop in Mornington. To whet your appetite before its release, take a walk on the Langwarrin reserve’s Historical Trail.
