Painting the Light, by Ned Manning, is a story of love between two people and their love for their country.
Set from the start of WWII to the early 1950s, the book is based on real people and events in Australian history, and The Senior has two copies to give away.
Nell Hope escapes the constraints of being the daughter of one of Australia's leading merino breeders to pursue her dream of becoming an artist in Paris.
At the same time, Alec Murray turns his back on the legal career his father has mapped out for him to try his luck converting scrub country in Central Western NSW into viable farming land.
Hitler's march into Europe and World War II brings their dreams to a shuddering halt.
When Hitler invades Poland, Nell is ordered to return home from Paris to work on the family farm while Alec enlists and joins the war effort on the other side of the world.
Over champagne in a new, glamorous Sydney nightclub, the pair begin a whirlwind wartime romance. But their experiences of the war change them.
Together, they are driven by a vision of a new, fairer Australia, even though they know they'll be ostracised by family and friends as they work to achieve it.
With Nell's encouragement, Alec accepts Ben Chifley's challenge to stand for Labor in one of the safest conservative seats in the country.
Manning worked on the book for nearly a decade before settling on this fictionalised version of his parents' lives based on research, letters, field trips and good old-fashioned imagination.
A writer, actor and teacher, his memoir Playground Duty (NewSouth Books) has become required reading for anyone interested in the real world of teaching.
Painting the Light, by Ned Manning (Broadcast Books), $19.99 from HERE
