Volume IX

A Picture of Lily

We all long for an interesting family history, a few skeletons here and there.  Russell is no different; he just has no direction in life, at least not until he discovers that his Great Great Uncle didn’t die at Gallipoli like the family had always told him.  Russell discovers by chance that Private John Coleman, aged 45, died somewhere near Villers-Bretonneux in France.  To honour him and to find some purpose in life Russell flies to France to spend ANZAC Day at the Dawn Service held for the first time in the Australian War Memorial near Villers-Bretonneux – almost 90 years to the day.

This is Russell’s first overseas trip, he is 40 years old, he speaks no other language than English and he is all alone.  He finds his Uncle’s grave easily thanks to his fastidious computer skills, but there is something wrong with the inscription on the headstone… apparently John Coleman had a daughter, Lily… except that he never had children.  Russell’s family confirms this fact and so he decides to stay in France for a while to delve further into the mystery.  He would rather that the man buried in plot V A 30 at the Daours Communal Cemetery Extension not be his Uncle if it meant that another family found their lost loved one.

Russell sweats on the DNA results he orders only to find that the man in his Uncle’s grave is a Frenchman in an Aussie uniform; one Jacques Coisnan.  His body is claimed by a local teacher, his Great Grand-daughter, who recently had her DNA sampled as part of a class experiment.  Russell’s task in France is seemingly complete until he receives an invitation to visit one Lily Coisnan and they find that their families have left them hand written letters that are remarkably similar; in style and handwriting.  They soon discover through letters from the ghosts of relatives past that their shared information about that lonely grave in a far off field in France affects both of their lives in ways they could never have imagined.