Peter Watt books in order

In 1918, after the Great War, two Australian soldiers join the British army to help fight the Bolshevik forces in northern Russia. Almost a century later, two bodies are unearthed in the small Australian country town of Valley View.

Following the Armistice, Sergeant Joshua Larkin is sent on a special mission deep into enemy territory in Russia. But when he is ordered to do the unthinkable, he must flee across Europe to protect a young woman, Maria, whose family has been executed. With Maria's life under threat from all sides due to her imperial connections, nowhere is safe.

Decades later, the discovery of the two skeletons in Valley View poses problems for local policeman Morgan McLean. Who are the victims and why were they killed? Could the rumours of an heir to the Russian throne be true? And what explosive secret is Britain's MI6 desperate to keep hidden by any means necessary?

Lachlan, John and Phoebe MacDonald, three young children tragically separated after the massacre at the Ballarat goldfields, try to make their way in a world filled with poverty and war.

John is determined to find his lost siblings and meanwhile works hard to make a name for himself. A business partnership leads to riches and rewards that he never dreamed of.

Lachlan has always known what it is to struggle for survival. But even a life of bare knuckle fighting and destitution cannot prepare him for the war he finds himself in against the Maori of New Zealand, nor the feelings he has for his commanding Officer's sister.

Phoebe barely remembers what it is to have a family and yearns for a love that will make her feel complete, and a home to call her own.

Three tales of courage, hope and forbidden love set against the backdrop of the New Zealand Maori wars and an emerging Australian nation.

It is the turn of the 20th century - an era of tumultuous change. What is it that draws Tung Chi, a former Shaolin priest in the service of the Chinese emperor, to the Australian colony of Queensland?

This mystery ensnares local businessman John Wong, who fears for his daughter, living across the world in Peking at a time when a revolutionary force known as the Boxers is on the rise. Together Tung and John, with his son, Andrew, embark on a dangerous journey that will lead them into a conflict in which everything is at stake, but allegiances uncertain. The sleeping dragon of China is awakening...

Sometimes the fate for which you are destined is not your own...

1845, a village outside Sydney Town. Humble blacksmith Ian Steele struggles to support his widowed mother. All the while he dreams of a life in uniform, serving in Queen Victoria's army.

1845, Puketutu, New Zealand. Second Lieutenant Samuel Forbes, a young poet from an aristocratic English family, wants nothing more than to run from the advancing Maori warriors and discard the officer's uniform he never sought.

When the two men cross paths in the colony of New South Wales, they are struck by their brotherly resemblance and quickly hatch a plan for Ian to take Samuel's place in the British army.

Ian must travel to England, fool the treacherous Forbes family and accept a commission into their regiment as a company commander. Once in London, he finds love with an enigmatic woman, but must part with her to face battle in the bloody Crimean war.

It is 1857. Colonial India is a simmering volcano of nationalism about to erupt. Army surgeon Peter Campbell and his wife Alice, in India on their honeymoon, have no idea that they are about to be swept up in the chaos.

Ian Steele, known to all as Captain Samuel Forbes, is fighting for Queen and country in Persia. A world away, the real Samuel Forbes is planning to return to London - with potentially disastrous consequences for Samuel and Ian both.

Then Ian is posted to India, but not before a brief return to England and a reunion with the woman he loves. In India he renews his friendship with Peter Campbell, and discovers that Alice has taken on a most unlikely role. Together they face the enemy and the terrible deprivations and savagery of war - and then Ian receives news from London that crushes all his hopes...

In October 1863, Ian Steele, having taken on the identity of Captain Samuel Forbes, is fighting the Pashtun on the north-west frontier in India. Half a world away, the real Samuel Forbes is a lieutenant in the 3rd New York Volunteers and is facing the Confederates at the Battle of Mission Ridge in Tennessee. Neither is aware their lives will change beyond recognition in the year to come.

In London, Ella, the love of Ian's life, is unhappily married to Count Nikolai Kasatkin. As their relationship sours further, she tries to reclaim the son she and Ian share, but Nikolai makes a move that sees the boy sent far from Ella's reach.

As 1864 dawns, Ian is posted to the battlefields of the Waikato in New Zealand, where he comes face to face with an old nemesis. As the ten-year agreement between Steele and Forbes nears its end, their foe is desperate to catch them out and cruel all their hopes for the future...

As the son of 'the Colonial', legendary Queen's Captain Ian Steele, Josiah Steele has big shoes to fill. Although his home in the colony of New South Wales is a world away, he dreams of one day travelling to England so he can study to be a commissioned officer in the Scottish Regiment.

After cutting his teeth in business on the rough and ready goldfields of Far North Queensland's Palmer River, he finally realizes his dream and travels to England, where he is accepted into the Sandhurst military academy. While in London he makes surprising new acquaintances - and runs into a few old ones he'd rather have left behind.

From the Australian bush to the glittering palaces of London, from the arid lands of Afghanistan to the newly established Germany dominated by Prussian ideas of militarism, Josiah Steele must now forge his own path.

It is 1885. After a decade spent fighting for Queen and Country across the globe, Colonel Ian Steele is enjoying the quiet life in the colony of New South Wales, reunited with his friend Conan Curry and watching over his children and numerous business enterprises.

But the British Empire's pursuits are ceaseless, and when the colony's soldiers are required to assist a campaign in Sudan, North Africa, Ian's son Lieutenant Josiah Steele heeds the call, despite an ultimatum from the love of his life, Marian.

Meanwhile, Ian's younger son Samuel is learning the family business in the Pacific islands with his friend and colleague Ling Lee. However, Lee has become embroiled in a scheme to smuggle guns for the Chinese, which sees the pair sailing directly into danger in Singapore.

As the reign of Queen Victoria draws to a close and new battles loom on several frontiers, the Steele family must face loss and heartbreak like never before.

A stark and vivid novel of Australia's brutal past.

An epic tale of two families, the Macintoshes and the Duffys, who are locked in a deadly battle from the moment squatter Donald Macintosh commits an act of barbarity on his Queensland property.

Their paths cross in love, death and revenge as both families fight to tame the wild frontier of Australia's north country.

A riveting tale of love, death and revenge.

Soldier of fortune Michael Duffy returns to colonial Sydney on a covert mission and with old scores to settle, still enraged by a bitter feud between his family and the ruthless Macintoshes.

The Palmer River gold rush lures American prospector Luke Tracy back to Australia's rugged north country in his elusive search for riches and the great passion of his life, Kate O'Keefe.

A deadly family curse holds two families in its powerful grip.

Captain Patrick Duffy's passions are inflamed by the mysterious Irishwoman Catherine Fitzgerald, further pitting him against his father, Michael Duffy, and his adoring but scheming grandmother, Lady Enid Macintosh.

On the rugged Queensland frontier, Native Mounted Police trooper Peter Duffy is torn between his loyal bond with Gordon James, the love of his sister, Sarah, and the blood of his mother's people, the Nerambura tribe.

Two men, the women who love them and a dreadful curse that still inextricably links the lives of the Macintoshes and the Duffys culminates in this stunning tale.

When Major Patrick Duffy's beautiful wife Catherine leaves him for another, he is propelled out of the Sydney Macintosh home and into yet another bloody war. However the battlefields of Africa, fighting the Boers, bring him in contact with one he thought long dead and lost to him.

Back in Australia, the mysterious Michael O'Flynn mentors Patrick's youngest son, Alex, and takes him on a journey to the Queensland property, Glen View. But will the terrible curse that has inextricably linked the Duffys and Macintoshes for generations ensure that no true happiness can ever come to them?

"They had all forgotten the curse... Except one... Until it touched them. I will tell you of those times when the whitefella touched the clouds and lightning came down on the earth for many years."

In 1914, the storm clouds of war are gathering. Matthew Duffy and his cousin Alexander Macintosh are sent by Colonel Patrick Duffy to conduct reconnaissance on German-controlled New Guinea. At the same time, Alexander's sister, Fenella, is making a name for herself in the burgeoning Australian film industry.

But someone close to them has an agenda of his own - someone who would betray not only his family but his country to satisfy his greed and lust for power. As the world teeters on the brink of conflict, one family is plunged into a nightmare of murder, drugs, treachery and treason.

In 1916, the Duffys and Macintoshes are entangled in the horrors of World War I. From the deserts of the Middle East to the trenches of Europe, the hand of death is always present. But even those left behind are not safe, for the most dangerous of enemies is not the Germans or the Turks, but someone much closer to home...

It is 1918, a year when the War will end, but an even greater killer will arise.

On the bloody fields of the Western Front and the battle-scarred desert plains of the Middle East, Tom and Matthew Duffy are facing the enemy. Even as they are trapped on the front lines, they must also find the courage to fight for the women they love when all hope is lost.

Back in Australia, George Macintosh is outraged by the stipulations of his father's will that provide for his despised nephew, and is determined to eliminate any threats to his power. And in a sacred cave in the far Outback, old Wallarie foresees a tide of unspeakable death sweeping through his homeland.

As all nations come to terms with the devastating consequences of the Great War, a new world will be born. But not everyone will live to see it.

Against the backdrop of impending war and the rise of the Nazi Party, the epic saga of the Macintosh and Duffy families continues.

It's 1936. While Europe is starting to feel the shadow of the upcoming turmoil, George Macintosh is determined to keep control of his business empire. He takes extreme measures to prevent his nephew David from taking a seat on the Board. Meanwhile, George's son Donald is packed off to the family station Glen View in Northern Queensland in an effort to curb his excesses.

In Iraq, Captain Matthew Duffy doesn't escape the stain of growing fanaticism. Recruited by British Intelligence, he once more faces a German enemy, although this one has a more pleasing aspect. Matthew is confused by his attraction to Diane and finds himself having to make a hard decision. And just as he is coming to terms with his choice, he meets his estranged son, James Barrington Jnr.

In the middle of all this upheaval, the two families experience loss, love, greatness and tragedy, and find themselves brought closer together and pulled further apart. Romance blooms in the unlikeliest of hearts under the gathering clouds of war.

It is 1942 and the war in the Pacific is on Australia's doorstep, changing the lives of the Duffy and Macintosh families as never before.

In Sydney, siblings Donald and Sarah Macintosh battle for their father's approval, and control of his empire, while their cousin David fights the enemy across the continents.

US Marine Pilot James Duffy defies his grandfather's wishes, and, a number of times, death, protecting Australian skies from the Japanese. Below, trapped in the jungles of Malaya, Diane Duffy is caught between saving the lives of hundreds of orphaned children, or that of her son.

While Tom Duffy finds himself enlisting in yet another world war, his daughter Jessica narrowly escapes slaughter at a mission station, causing her to revoke her vows and follow in her father's footsteps.

Nearly a century after the Aboriginal curse that forever tied these two families, and amidst the most devastating conflict in history, the Duffys and Macintoshes will find a way to endure... and perhaps even thrive.

As the Allied forces fight to repel invaders in the Pacific, the Duffy and Macintosh clans face their greatest challenges at home.

Sergeant Jessica Duffy relishes her work as a code breaker in MacArthur's headquarters but is also secretly reporting on the Americans to the Prime Minister. When she uncovers treason at the highest levels, neither duty nor dishonor will stop her getting justice.

Captain James Duffy, a decorated fighter pilot with the United States Marine Corps, is expected to wait out the war assisting the bond effort, helping to make movies that gloss over the tragic realities of combat. Despite his scars, he is desperate to return to the cockpit...until a chance meeting gives him something new to fight for.

Major David Macintosh has survived prison camps, torture and countless battles, but can he endure the machinations of his obsessive cousin, Sarah? Sarah is prepared to do anything to take over the family companies, and will destroy anyone who gets in her way.

From the frontlines of the Pacific to the back lots of Hollywood, a new generation faces deadly missions, impossible choices and an inescapable family legacy.

In the war across the seas, the Duffys and the Macintoshes are on the same side. But on home turf, the battle between these two dynasties rages on...

After fighting in two world wars, Tom Duffy's purchase of his ancestral property Glen View means a home for the next generation of Duffys. But the Macintosh family won't easily surrender this land, and when they challenge his ownership, he knows he's in for one hell of a fight.

Meanwhile in Sydney, Sarah has taken over from her father as the head of the Macintosh firm. She has big plans for herself and the family business, and she isn't afraid to play dirty.

Sergeant Jessica Duffy, Captain James Duffy and Major David Macintosh have survived countless battles the world over, but will all they are fighting for still be waiting for them when they return home?

A century-old curse comes full circle...

For a hundred years they have never forgiven, never forgotten. Now, the war between the Duffy and Macintosh dynasties will be brought to its stunning conclusion.

Private Patrick Duffy was forced to flee Malaya as a child, and left orphaned when his mother died in Changi prison. Now, returning to fight a fearless enemy, he must confront the ghosts of his past if he is to find any hope for the future.

Michael Macintosh is forging his own path to escape his mother's obsessive control. Sailor, soldier and mercenary, he will soon face war again, in the brutal jungles of Vietnam.

Sarah Macintosh ruthlessly crushes anyone who gets in her way, and has vowed to destroy her sister-in-law, Jessica Duffy-Macintosh. Fixated on her own legacy, she has ignored her family's inheritance - a century-old curse, to be paid in blood...

Two men, sworn enemies, come face to face on the battlefields of France.

When Jack Kelly, a captain in the Australian army, shows compassion towards his prisoner Paul Mann, a brave and high-ranking German officer, an unexpected bond is formed. But neither could imagine how their pasts and futures would become inextricably linked by one place: Papua.

The Great War is finally over and both soldiers return to their once familiar lives, only to find that in their absences events have changed their respective worlds forever. In Australia, Jack is suddenly alone with a son he does not know and a future filled with uncertainty, while the photograph of a beautiful German woman he has never met fills his thoughts. Meanwhile the Germany that Paul had fought for is vanishing under the influence of an ambitious young man named Adolph Hitler, and he fears for the future of his family.

A new beginning beckons them both in a beautiful but dangerous land where rivers of gold are as legendary as the fearless, cannibalistic tribes, and where fortunes can be made and lost as quickly as a life. Papua.

A new war, a new generation and an old enemy cross paths.

Jack Kelly and Paul Mann have survived one world war-will they survive another? When the Japanese threaten to invade the Pacific the two men know that they must do everything in their power to protect their country, and their loved ones from an ambitious and merciless enemy. Lukas Kelly and Karl Mann are like brothers-just like their fathers-and both are determined to do their part for the Australian cause. While Karl works undercover in espionage, Lukas trains to be a pilot. The two men have also inherited their father's passionate nature, and romantic entanglements raise the stakes even further.

Four men, with ties closer than blood fight to hold on to love, and a world that is gradually disappearing. When the war finally explodes terrible tragedies, courageous deeds and enduring friendships will change their lives forever.

As a war correspondent covering the Second World War, Ilsa Stahl isn't afraid to be on the front line. But when her plane goes down in a terrible storm over Papuan waters and she is taken prisoner by the Japanese, she has every reason to be terrified. Particularly as they plan to hand her over to the Nazis.

When Jack Kelly discovers that his only daughter has fallen into the hands of the enemy, he will stop at nothing to save her. Even if it means risking the life of his only son, Lukas. No one knows Papua the way they do; they may be Ilsa's only hope but time is running out.

Meanwhile, Major Karl Mann is sent on a secret mission to Indo China that will see him embroiled in Ilsa's rescue mission in ways he could never have imagined.