Blanche d’Alpuget’s early novels arose from travel she did in her twenties in Western Europe and England and from living five years in South East Asia. Her first, Monkeys in the Dark, is set in Indonesia in the violent aftermath of a military takeover. Turtle Beach is set in Malaysia during the Vietnamese refugee crisis of the late 1970s. It was made into a feature film. Winter in Jerusalem is set in Israel in 1983–84 as the first war against Lebanon gathers strength.
White Eye is set in Australia and Thailand and is about the danger of biological plagues. Her novels were described as ‘witnesses to history’. In the second part of her writing career she has turned to historical fiction. The Young Lion is the first of four novels set in France and England in the 12th century and traces the lives of two of medieval history’s most fascinating characters, Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. It was chosen as one of the best books of 2013. The Lion Rampant is its successor. Her fiction and non-fiction, including the biography, Robert J. Hawke, have won many awards and been translated into Japanese, French, German and Chinese.