Before Time Fades

In a warm Melbourne kitchen, Nanna Clare and Grandpa Norm share epic ancestral stories with their grandsons. From the sunlit promenades of Smyrna and ancient hills of Greece; through the Byzantine Empire, the Chian Massacre, and the fiery destruction of Smyrna in 1922, to postwar life in Alexandria, Nanna Clare traces a Hellenic lineage stretching back five thousand years. In the garage, Grandpa Norm recounts rugged Scottish and English roots: clan feuds around Loch Lomond, Jacobite risings, convict ships, industrial Black Country origins, and a dramatic escape during the Japanese midget submarine attack on Sydney Harbour.

Two resilient ancestral streams; Greek and British, converge in postwar Australia in a tale of migration, endurance, faith, and belonging. Before Time Fades is a chronicle of memory triumphing over oblivion.