On the Kokoda track, in the damp, disease-filled jungles of Papua New Guinea, Murray Barrett and the rest of the 39th battalion are the only thing standing between Australia and a Japanese invasion. Everyone thinks they’ll be slaughtered, and Murray finds that he will have to fight alongside his worst enemy . . .

Break of Day is a thoroughly researched and gripping novel. It offers an insight into the context of the war, and provides a perfect companion study for students learning about the war.

Tony conducts talks for students on his book – the research, characters, narratives and themes. He can also talk about book cover design, typography, and the various steps to bringing a book to publication.

You can listen to (or download) a short reading from Break of Day here.

Break of Day is really a very, very good historical novel about the lives of a group of young people in country Australia and wears its khaki lightly. Palmer, a graphic designer by profession, writes with ringing clarity. The book is studded not so much with ‘beautiful writing’ as beautiful images and with real immediacy. He puts the reader inside the skin of his characters.
- Read Alert, State Library of Victoria

Tony creates a strong sense of the story’s time, place and circumstance (Kokoda and back home in the 1930s Depression era). Stories of childhood rivalries, insecurity and confusion explain why Murray signed up for the war and add personalised impact and emotional depth to what is already a dramatic chapter in Australia’s history.
- Angie Schiavone, The Sydney Morning Herald