Author(s): Smith

NZ Fiction

1951. After New Zealand's waterfront workers withdraw their labour, violence breaks out on the streets of Auckland leading to a winter of division and privation for the wharfies and their families. For Eddie Wilson of Devonport, family man, loyal wharfie and rugby league coach, the dispute threatens to tear his famlily apart, destroying everything he and his wife Julie have worked for. It is a time of confusion for Julie too as she is torn between her family and her friendship with Fiona, wife of the neighbouring shipowners' representative. and for young Roy Wilson whose friend Fraser is also from the other side of the dispute. Emeshed in a web of deception, Eddie fights against the odds ro save his home and family, until the crisis reaches its shattering climax.