AustLit

'In 1916 sixteen-year-old Jean McLain is working as a Post Office assistant in England. But when she wins a national Morse Code competition, the British army makes a request Jean cannot refuse – to take a secret position as a signaller in France.

'If Jean can keep the signals flowing between the soldiers at the Front and at headquarters, Britain might possibly win the war.

'But the British army are determined to hide their desperation – they will go on to burn every document that showed how women and girls were working behind the scenes, in the trenches, and even in battles during World War I.

'Decades later, and half a world away, an old woman on a motorbike tells the young man she has rescued from a flash flood the story of 'the telegraph girl': the friends she lost, the man who loved her, and the happiness she so surprisingly found again.

'Based on true events, this story of adventure, courage and unshakable loyalty restores women and girls to their place in history that the authorities tried to erase.' (Publication summary)