Requiem for a Riot: The Battle of Brisbane

by John Stephenson

November 1942. From battlefront New Guinea, war correspondent Pat Kinnane lands in Brisbane, General MacArthur’s Headquarters, and finds himself in another kind of war. Amid serious Allied tension, with his guide Kay Dalberg, a smart, political young woman, over nine days he liases with operational US military, befriends a desperate Kokoda veteran, edges into a complicated love triangle and is witness to the mysterious death of a soldier. The crucial personal issues of his visit reach their climax on the sultry evening of the 26th, American Thanksgiving Day, when the city’s discords boil over into the fatal street riot known to history as The Battle of Brisbane.

434 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 27, 2020

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

John Stephenson is a consultant and writer on:
* e-learning
* work-based learning
* learner centred curriculum design
* development of capability strategies

Reviews

[Boolarong Press · Rating 4 out of 5]

I agree with the critics below.

“A novel complex in narrative and character, profound in insight and passionately written. Yet perhaps the greatest character in it is Brisbane itself, pulsing with Australian and American tensions, racial and sexual.”

Barry Oakley, novelist and playwright

“A moving story, Requiem For A Riot also shows how the Yanks brought us more than money, randiness and know-how. They brought a big, multicultural, sophisticated world. These invaders were also eye-openers.”

Carl Harrison-Ford, critic