Are the stories based on real events and persons?

Yes. Both An Attractive Naivety and Ashes and Sakura are grounded in meticulous historical research—drawing on a myriad of primary and secondary sources - unit war diaries, court transcripts, letters, newspaper reports and archives to capture real episodes like the bubonic plague in Sydney, the Cowra breakout, the BCOF occupation of Japan, and the Morotai and Tokyo war crimes trials. Although the Davis/Darcy families are fictive, many members are inspired by real characters; e.g. Norman and Armistice (Misty). Many characters in the two books are real like J. C. C. Bradfield and Kathleen Butler, the Chief Engineer and the "God-Mother" of the Sydney Harbour Bridge respectively, Dr John Ashburton Thompson and Dr Frank Tidswell who directed Sydney's public health response against the bubonic plague outbreak in 1900 etc etc.