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The Boy in the Dress

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The Boy in the Dress

By: Jonathan Butler
Narrated by: John Robertson
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About this listen

On a balmy Townsville night in 1944, young serviceman Warwick Meale is found beaten to death under a bridge.

The army and police do not, or will not, conduct a proper investigation and history forgets the killer - until now. Nearly 80 years on, Warwick's descendant Jonathan Butler dusts off the case and chases the leads that were there all along.

The Boy in the Dress exhumes secrets of life on the home front during World War II, where tensions between soldiers boiled over, new expressions of sexuality flourished and the threat of invasion catapulted the status quo into disarray.

The truth of this family legend, and this little-known chapter in Australian military history, is more complex and engrossing than anyone could have imagined.

©2022 Jonathan Butler (P)2022 W F Howes Historical True Crime
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From the very beginning I was captivated by the story of Warwick and what happened to him during his time in the Australian army. The research that Jonathan did was thorough and detailed, and I love the way he intertwined his own story in to the book.

A great story that needed to be told

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This is an extremely important price of work.
The power of stories can mean life to future generations.
Thank you to the author for his persistent research over so many years and his vulnerability.

The importance of telling peoples stories.

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A look back in time, history, murders, sexualilty, who did it, wartime, coming out, family.. set in Australia.. it has it all. Well written and the narrated. Recommended.

Enjoyable.

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It's difficult reviewing this book, because there were some really important concepts and historic information.

It was a little clumsy at times, other times I felt it was pieced together really skilfully.

I liked the author dipping into his own life and his journey to "Gay Pride", but my husband felt it was unwarranted, and distracted from the narrative.

Not sure if I would recommend this. It would have to be in some way relevant to the person perhaps.

Ambient

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.