IFWG Publishing relishes experimentation – something different, something controversial, something that raises the eyebrows, and it is with great pleasure that we announce the release of Craig Cormick‘s newest novel, The Years of the Wolf.

The novel is a murder mystery that looks not just at the way that internment brutalises and dehumanises people – as we have seen in contemporary internment – but the lengths that people will go to, to create fantasy worlds less hostile to them.

The book is set in the old prison at Trial Bay near Kempsey in northern New South Wales, whose ruins still remain, that housed over 500 civilian internees between 1915 and 1918.

Craig Cormick said, “We know that war leads to extreme circumstances, and that internment leads to extreme behaviours – taken together the German civilian internees in Australia created a strange fantasy world of Alpine village huts and German theatre – with men by necessity playing the roles of women.”

“Photos of the time – used in the book – show seductive middle eastern dancers and genteel ladies – who were actually the men’s cell mates, which meant things were bound to get a little strange.”

The murder mystery in the book is underpinned by racial tensions, inner-camp factional tensions and sexual tensions.

“Beyond the entertainment of the story, as we reach the end of the 100^thanniversary of the First World War, we should remember the impacts of the war on those who have largely been written out of histories of the war,” he said.

“German internees were treated appallingly amongst the anti-German hysteria of the times and despite many of them having lived in Australia for many years, or married Australians, most were sent back to Germany at the end of the war. The story certainly resonates with contemporary attitudes to internees.”

Craig Cormick’s previous writing awards include a Queensland Premier’s Literary Award, the ACT Book of the Year Award, a Victorian Community History Award and the Tasmanian Writer’s Prize.

The Years of the Wolf is now available in all good Australian, UK and NZ bookstores, in print and ebook formats, and will be released in North America November 20th. The novel contains photographs of the internees and internment camp.