If we must look for demons in our lives, we may also try to destroy them before we die. In James Twining’s life the demon of his declining memory, like Don Quixote’s windmill, is a tractor. Forged in Germany, the machine came to be known as Hitler’s tractor – it ploughed, sowed and reaped. But did Hitler’s tractor have a sinister purpose?
This is a story that takes the reader through chapters in the lifetime of one man – childhood, adolescence, a professional life and finally old age when he struggles to remember.
It tells of hardship farming in 1930s Australia, the confusion of a boy’s conflict with a teacher traumatised by war, his artistic mother’s battle against the unforgiving land, a father who dreams of something better, and a marriage under strain.
But glowering over an apparently simple tale is the ‘evil one’ – the German tractor that seems to have an unimaginably dangerous machine-like power over those who would dare to stoke its fire and tame its strength.
Character rich and sweeping from the Depression years to the Australia of today, Hitler’s Tractor speaks to the strength of human spirit when faced by adversity – drought, flood, cruel fate and the futility of revenge. It is a poignant, beguiling and exquisitely told Australian story.
Tumburra Times –
Writer Jan Smith has three books in publication – The Glass Cricket Ball, Mackie & Jack and the soon to be released Hitler’s Tractor. Writers may dream of having one book published, but retired journalist Jan William Smith is celebrating three within twelve months, all at the age of 87 …. Born in 1934, he says there should be no surprise that an 87-year-old writer should continue his craft. “Tom Keneally, who almsot shares the same birthday as me, manages it, so why can’t I?”
Tumburra Times –
The third title, to be released shortly, is Hitler’s Tractor. Reviewers have described it as a poignant and exquisitely written novel about dementia, the ravages of time, fate, and a half-forgotten past.