[1] During the Second World War journalist "Paper" Tyson reports on Australian Federal politics and is a great friend of current Prime Minister Johnny Mulhall.

He writes admirable reporting prose with a tight storyline, an eye and ear for the significant detail or phrase, a nose for gossip and an ability — which Keneally in other roles might emulate — to resist the lure of purple prose...Part of the story's appeal, at least to senior citizens, is in the game of spotting the originals of the dramatis personnae.

The author stops tantalisingly this side of libel, so the game remains one of guessing and never becomes complete identification.

"[2] On the publication of the 1984 edition, Stan Barney commented: "As usual with Keneally, the research is impeccable and he has captured the atmosphere of wartime Australia with remarkable felicity (though his editors let him down by allowing both the Senate and House of Representatives to be furnished in plush velvet)...An interview between Tyson and McLeod is so believable that one wonders if McLeod, behaving like a Roman proconsul, is actually MacArthur being quoted.

A visit by Mulhall to the Hunter coalfields to gain the support of the miners for the war effort is another memorable episode.