by Derek Hansen
‘Nonsense,’ said Milos. ‘We opened your eyes, no? Be man enough to admit it. We had you on a piece of string and forced you to confront your prejudices. Didn’t we just hear you make a promise to Gabi?’
‘Yes, but you weakened your lesson with your embellishment. You made me feel ashamed of my attitudes but not as ashamed as I should have been. My shame was overwhelmed by shock and sadness at the prospect of Gabi dying.’
‘I heard shame,’ said Lucio. ‘It didn’t sound overwhelmed to me.’
‘And I hear a desperate man making a pathetic attempt to salvage his ego,’ said Ramon.
‘The point I’m trying to make is that I was more upset by the prospect of Gabi dying.’
‘Does that mean you intend to go back on your promise to me?’ asked Gabriella.
‘Not at all. I was just saying —’
‘You’ve said enough, Neil,’ cut in Milos. ‘The fact that we’ve made you promise to change your attitude means we didn’t miscalculate.’
‘He’s right, Neil,’ said Ramon.
‘I agree,’ said Lucio.
‘Maybe,’ Neil conceded.
He turned to Gabriella. ‘The important thing is, you’re not about to die.’ He covered her hands with his again. ‘I can’t tell you how relieved I am about that.’
‘Dear me,’ said Gabriella. ‘Milos was right. You really are a sucker for a happy ending.’
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Lunch with the Stationmaster is a work of fiction, though clearly it has its roots in history and in the experiences of Holocaust survivors. As Ramon remarks, every good story contains significant elements of truth and it is up to the listener/reader to determine what is fact and what is the product of imagination.
Gathering the facts would have been a lot more difficult but for the help of Alan Gold, author and Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, who cherry-picked through his library for reference books which were invaluable.
I would also like to thank those who gave up their time to tell me their personal experiences.
It would be less of a book but for the thoroughness of my editor, Nicola O’Shea, who allowed no page to pass unimproved.
Thanks also to my agent, Margaret Connolly. Every author needs someone like Margaret on their side and I pity those who haven’t.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Derek Hansen is a former advertising man who walked away at the peak of his career to fulfil a lifelong ambition to write novels.
His first novel, Lunch with the Generals, became an immediate bestseller, followed by Lunch with Mussolini and Sole Survivor. Lunch with the Stationmaster is his sixth novel and the third in the Lunch series.
Derek Hansen’s work has also been published in America, Europe and the United Kingdom. He is married, has two adult children, and lives on Sydney’s northern beaches.
PRAISE
‘[Lunch with the Generals] is a rare book and a rare story that blazes life and death and love from every page … the style sparse yet detailed, the sign of a brilliant storyteller’
— Courier-Mail
‘Derek Hansen take a bow. You have written one of the most entertaining, gripping and powerful novels of the year.’
— Sunday Telegraph on Lunch with Mussolini
‘Another fine effort from Hansen, with complex characters from wartime Germans to Italian fascists to Australian widows’
— Courier-Mail on Lunch with Mussolini
‘Derek Hansen has a knack for making the immediate past come alive with contemporary pain’
— Canberra Times on Sole Survivor
OTHER BOOKS BY DEREK HANSEN
Lunch with the Generals
Lunch with Mussolini
Sole Survivor
Blockade
Perfect Couple
SHORT STORIES
Dead Fishy
Psycho Cat
COPYRIGHT
HarperCollinsPublishers
First published in Australia in 2002
This edition published in 2014
by HarperCollinsPublishers Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
A member of the HarperCollinsPublishers (Australia) Pty Limited Group
www.harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Derek Hansen 2002
The right of Derek Hansen to be identified as the moral rights author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000 (Cth).
This book is copyright.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission.
Inquiries should be addressed to the publishers.
HarperCollinsPublishers
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10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10022, USA
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Hansen, Derek.
Lunch with the stationmaster.
ISBN 0 7322 7508 3 (pbk.)
ISBN 978 1 4607 0423 3 (ePub)
I. Title.
A823.3
Cover and internal design by Darian Causby, HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover photography: APL/Corbis
