After Darkness

Shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2015. Winner of the 2014 Australian/Vogel's Literary Award. 


‘Piper draws us deeper and deeper into the compelling story of Tomakazu Ibaraki, a man whose strengths — discretion, honour and loyalty — also lie at the heart of his personal tragedy.’  Danielle Wood, winner of the 2002 Australian/Vogel's Literary award for Alphabet of Light and Dark


After Darkness is about friendships that transcend cliched notions of mateship. It’s also about a man silenced by a promise... a haunting novel that lingers in a most unsettling way.’ Fiona Stager, Avid Reader


It is early 1942 and Australia is in the midst of war. While working at a Japanese hospital in the pearling port of Broome, Dr Ibaraki is arrested as an enemy alien and sent to Loveday internment camp in a remote corner of South Australia. There, he learns to live among a group of men who are divided by culture and allegiance. As tensions at the isolated camp escalate, the doctor’s long-held beliefs are thrown into question and he is forced to confront his dark past: the promise he made in Japan and its devastating consequences.


‘A brave, profound meditation on identity, trauma, loss and courage that reminds us that there are two sides to every war and that history never ceases to be written. A novel that demands its place alongside Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Mark Dapin’s Spirit House’ Stephen Romei, The Australian