Diane Eklund-Abolins

Kaleidoscope Diane Eklund-Abolins

It is 1917, and a war in Europe is also being felt in Australia as young men sign up in their thousands. Some of them anticipate adventure; others believe that fighting for England is the right thing to do. Bridget O'Connor, a young woman from the Central West of New South Wales with a husband and a brother caught up in the war, does not believe that killing can ever be the 'right thing to do'. At the same time, she is fleeing to Sydney, expecting to be hanged for a dreadful crime she herself has committed. Past injustices, domestic violence and society's perspective on women twist around the central themes of war and Bridget's crime.