Danielle Binks on war, friendship and finding common ground in 'Shakespeare in the Orchard'

From Good Reading Podcast by Good Reading Magazine

July 20, 2026 · 25 min

About this episode

Danielle Binks discusses her novel 'Shakespeare in the Orchard' and its themes of war and friendship set in 1914 Langwarrin.

Langwarrin, Victoria, 1914. The whole world is at war. In Langwarrin on the Mornington Peninsula, fourteen-year-old Jack Thorning is the best marksman in military cadet training. His brother, Matt, taught him everything he knew, after their father died. But now Matt has joined the war effort, and it's up to Jack to hold down the home front and help his mother run the family orchard. When a group of 'enemy aliens' are sent to Langwarrin to be held prisoner at the military base, tensions in the town run high. For Jack and his best friend, Walter, the war feels closer than ever. Like the rest of the town, Jack and Walter want nothing to do with the German prisoners. But as the war progresses, the inmates at the camp are put to work doing manual labour on the farms around Langwarrin, including Jack's family orchard, and Jack begins to see that the prisoners are people, too. In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Danielle Binks about her home town and her fascination with it's war-time history, how the works of Shakespeare still resonate for young people today, and why World War I's impact in shaping events of the 20th Century is often overlooked.

People in this episode

Host: Gregory Dobbs

Guest: Danielle Binks

Topics covered

war
friendship
Shakespeare
World War I
historical fiction
youth perspective

Keywords

Danielle Binks
Gregory Dobbs
Shakespeare
World War I
historical fiction
Langwarrin
friendship
youth

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Shakespeare in the Orchard

Places: Langwarrin, Victoria