1975: When bloody war ravages his beloved Portuguese Timor, Cesar da Silva flees with his wife and children from a country in flames. But in their desperate bid for freedom, amidst the chaos and devastation, Cesar's young family becomes separated. Believing his wife and two daughters dead, Cesar finds passage to the Portugal of his heritage and later to Australia.

In occupied Timor, Cesar's wife is alive, but her troubles are far from over. Hunted by a sadistic warlord and with no way to get a message to the outside world, she despairs she will never see her husband again...

1997: More than twenty years later, a young Australian journalist and her photographer are drawn to the killing fields of Timor and discover the terrible suffering of the Timorese people at the hands of a brutal foreign invader. They are compelled to expose the truth to the world, but in their quest for justice, they become entangled in the da Silva family tragedy, placing them all in the gravest of danger...

Powerful, moving and enthralling, The Devil's Tears announces the arrival of a bold new voice in Australian fiction.

"A captivating story of bravery and honour in a time of war, The Devil's Tears will grip you from the first page to the last." (Peter Watt)