To Hell and Back

As a young soldier in the battlefields of Gallipoli, Sydney Loch witnessed the horror of war first-hand. On his return to Australia he detailed what he saw in his book, The Straits Impregnable. Hoping to avoid military censorship, his publishers dubbed Sydney′s book a novel. But as the war ground on and the numbers of casualties grew, the publisher inserted a note saying the story was factual. The book, which had enjoyed huge literary acclaim, was immediately withdrawn from sale by the censors.

Sydney Loch's experiences in the war shaped his life afterwards. With his wife, Joice, he went on to work in refugee camps in Poland and Palestine, and his many subsequent books, set in war-torn countries, reflected his humanitarian beliefs.

In To Hell and Back , historians Susanna and Jake de Vries have recovered and edited Sydney's book for a new generation of readers and written a biography of his remarkable life.

About the Author

Susanna de Vries is an art historian who lectures at the University of Queensland. She has been the recipient of a Churchill Fellowship to study Renaissance art in Italy, and has written extensively on art and history both here and overseas. She was made a member of the Order of Australia in 1996 for services to art and literature. Susanna is the author of many books, several of which have won awards. In 2001 she was awarded a Tyrone Guthrie Fellowship to write in Ireland by the Literature Board of the Australia Council. Her most recent book was In To Hell and Back.