I worked on Kaleidoscope for several years while other, possibly more important, things kept pushing it to the back of the queue. It was finally published on the 21st December 2021.

At the centre of Kaleidoscope is Bridget O’Connor, 26 years old with an Irish Catholic background. The setting is the Central West of NSW, Australia, the year is 1917 and most of the world is caught up in what will eventually come to be known as WWI. Bridget dislikes killing and is unable to accept any logical reason for the War, yet in spite of her outlook, she is thrown into a dreadful situation where she has to question whether or not killing is sometimes the only option. Kaleidoscope explores the familial ties that bind us to both the present and the past, suggesting that we may be more dependent on those who have gone before us than we are prepared to admit. How they coped, or did not cope, is often reflected in the situations we face and how we respond to them.

“I doubted that anyone could know Bridget’s story completely: different people knew unrelated parts of the story, pieces that were sometimes patched together to form new, often contrasting, stories. (...) no one can really know anyone else’s story. All we can ever have are the bits and pieces that create their own patterns, in the same way as Joshua’s kaleidoscope.”


“While she thought about the boy and what it was that was prompting him to enlist, another part of her wondered about right and wrong and how easy it can be for the two words to change places as in some stately, well–choreographed, dance. Thinking of her own situation, she knew just how easily these two opposites could change places. She did not feel that she had the right to pass any kind of judgement on others.”

Purchase Kaleidoscope from most online book shops
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You may purchase directly from the publisher AoE Publishing
only if you live in UK, USA or Australia.

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