The Long Night Watch

by Ivan Southall

In 1941, fleeing from the terrors of Hitler and the Second World War, a hundred people set sail from Australia for a remote island in the Pacific. They are led by the astonishing Brigadier Palmer, founder of S.W.O.R.D., the Society for World Order Under Divine Rule. The effect he is to have on the five teenagers in the group is devastating. Despite the ever-present fear of invasion by the Japanese, each one of them has private and personal hopes for the future - but they soon find that the Brigadier see a very different purpose for all their lives...

This is both a story of war and of a struggle for power, written with all the skill and originality for which this award-winning author is deservedly famous.

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1984

About the author

Ivan Southall was an award-winning Australian writer of young-adult fiction and non-fiction. He was the first and still the only Australian to win the Carnegie Medal for children's literature. His books include Hills End, Ash Road, Josh, and Let the Balloon Go. Also notable is Fly West, a book of true stories based on his experiences flying in Short Sunderland flying boats during the Second World War.

Winner of the Dromkeen Medal (2003).