Inspired Reader Writes To Author
Thank you for a wonderful book. I believe the central construct being your personal journey as you progressively uncovered information…and leading further to your evolving relationship with deceased male forebears was moving.
I read a reasonable amount, I listen to music and like art. When it moves me, it scores a hit. And I was with you on your journey as I turned the pages.
It is astonishing that your grandfather seemed to write with such a neutral tone from the trenches. It evoked within me profound pathos and sympathy that, beneath these words, were shocking endurance and muffling any depression caused by the death and suffering of those near and dear to him.
Some might say that your uncle’s decision to sign up for another tour was suicidal. But he wasn’t the only one at that time who gave his life in such a way.
With some mystery surrounding your father’s service, you chose, wisely I believe, not to make final conclusions in spite of your best research. Leaving us to join the dots, left me with sadness, some understanding and again sympathy, not forgetting the many dreadful events, recent and impacting, which surrounded your father.
I salute you. Why not connect? You’re a thinker, a writer and a carer. You’ve done a great job!
John Nichol, Sydney/Tokyo
How To Buy War Spoils!
Readers of War Spoils have variously described the book as “a piece of gold”, “gripping and poignant” and “truly magnificent and a great showpiece for the author’s impressive talents”.
One reader said War Spoils was a “wonderful book with stories and characters so compelling I read it in one long sitting”.
Commenting on the poem War Spoils around which the book’s narrative is built, one reader said “Paul Dobbyn’s poem is a masterpiece of emotion and baring of soul.” Another described the poem as “not only beautifully written, but effectively encapsulating the stories of Henry, Robert and Denis Dobbyn.”
School Visits
Having a background as a high school teacher has made me aware of the value of War Spoils: A Childhood Painting, My Grandfather, His Sons and a Stunning Revelation as a school resource. I have already visited two Toowoomba schools with a third later this year.
The book has both primary and secondary historical sources as well as a work of literature, my poem War Spoils, and an appendix complete with footnotes. Queensland’s Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek’s support for the project can be seen in an official letter.
How a book was born
It’s often fascinating to follow how a particular work of art was created. My War Spoils journey started with the discovery of my grandfather, Captain Henry Dobbyn’s World War I journal amongst my father, Lieutenant Denis Dobbyn’s personal effects, not long after he died in 1991.
This discovery led to the poem War Spoils which celebrated my grandfather, father and uncle, Pilot Officer Robert Dobbyn’s wartime trials and tribulations. My book, War Spoils: A Childhood Painting, My Grandfather, His Sons and a Stunning Revelation, exploring the background history to the poem, was published in 2025.
Take The War Spoils Journey
By now, you’ll have travelled a long way with me on the War Spoils journey. You’ll have read how the creation of the book was inspired by, among other things, the realization of the significance of the print of a famous painting which had hung on the wall of my grandfather’s house when I was a child.
Now’s the time to take the next step. To secure a copy of War Spoils: A Childhood Painting, My Grandfather, His Sons and a Stunning Revelation, simply click on this tab.