The Water Diviner

Now a major motion picture directed by and starring Russell Crowe.

When the Great War ends, Joshua Connor, a grieving farmer and sometime water diviner from the Mallee in Victoria, sets out to fulfil his wife's dying wish—to travel to Gallipoli to recover the bodies of his three sons and bury them in consecrated ground. Crescent collides with cross, and hope with reason as he discovers that his eldest son, Art, may still be alive. When Connor makes a desperate dash into the perilous heart of Anatolia, one question haunts him: if Art is alive, why hasn't he come home?

This is not a war novel, not even an anti-war novel. Instead, it focuses on the battles that go on inside the hearts and minds of a small group of Australians and Turks as they struggle to bury their dead and rebuild their lives after the First World War. The story is based on first-hand resources, diaries, and official records.

Andrew’s working life began in archaeology. Armed with a Masters in History and Archaeology from the University of Melbourne and a trowel from the local hardware store, he worked extensively on excavations throughout the Middle East and Turkey. Having failed to locate the Ark of the Covenant, and on the brink of starvation because of the lousy pay, it was time for Andrew to find a proper job. Instead he began working as a freelance writer. He had a weekly interview-based column in The Age newspaper, Australia’s premium daily broadsheet, and was a regular contributor to Vogue Living.