Crack Hardy

"Crack hardy" was a saying among Australian and New Zealand soldiers in the First World War trenches. It means, "Grin and bear it. Put on a brave face."

This is the true story of three Australian soldiers, the Searle brothers. One brother was killed at Gallipoli, another on the Western Front. One came home a decorated hero.

Viv, a gifted poet who was planning to be a clergyman before the war, became a deadly efficient sniper. Ray shot himself and was charged with desertion. Ned was a true Australian larrikin, up for anything, and the black sheep of the family.

The Searle boys had to crack hardy, as they fought in one grueling campaign after another - from the first wave of the Gallipoli landings to Lone Pine, from Ypres to Messines and Hill 60 in Flanders, to bloody Somme battles at Mouquet Farm, Bullecourt, and Hamel, with their brothers and mates falling all around them.

Back home in an Australian country town, their mother, father, sisters and remaining brother also had to crack hardy, as the bad news from the front just kept coming, and coming.

Told from the heart by the Searle brothers' great-nephew, award-winning author Stephen Dando-Collins using the letters and journals of the Searle brothers and remembrances of other family members, Crack Hardy is a compelling book that defines Australia and Australians during the making of our nation on the far-flung battlefields of the First World War.

About the Author:

Stephen Dando-Collins is the author of the acclaimed Captain Bligh's Other Mutiny and a successful series of popular histories about the legions of ancient Rome published in the US, UK, and Australia: Caesar's Legion, Nero's Killing Machine , Cleopatra's Kidnappers, Mark Antony's Heroes. His historical novel <i<The Inquest, was published in the US, Canada, Spain and Italy. Pasteur's Gambit was shortlisted for the science prize in the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and won the Queensland Premier's Science Award.