Venetian Vespers by John Banville
Dusk, a deserted room, a scrap of black silk on a marble table, darkening waters beyond.

There and Back: The Story of an Australian Soldier 1915-35 by A Tiveychoc
Edward Rowland, born of Australian parents at Sydney on the 20th of June 1899, was working in his father’s factory when war was declared in 1914.

Like so many older books, There and Back has no modern review that I can find. The book is the memoir of Rowland Edward Lording writing as Alan Tiveychoc – Tivey’s Chocs (chocolate soldiers) being the name given to members on the 8th Brigade commanded by Major General Edwin Tivey because the men of 8th Brigade travelled to the Suez Canal by train while units from the 4th and 5th Divisions marched for three days across the desert to get there. Lording says, ‘in the narrative I have changed my name, and have also referred to others simply by their Christian names or nicknames in case they, like myself, do not like too much of the limelight of truth.’

Rowland Edward Lording (1899-1944) enlisted in the 30th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Force in July 1915 and gave his age as eighteen and one month. He was, in fact, sixteen and one month. His parents had agreed to his enlistment because they feared he would take himself off to another state and enlist under an assumed name. Their consent was given on the understanding that he would join the signalling corps in the mistaken belief that his training would take twelve months and by then the war might be over. The memoir follows his enlistment, training, journey from Australia, training in Egypt and arrival in France. After nine days in action Lording was horrifically injured at the battle of Fromelles. He takes the reader through his prolonged and unexpected recovery and and his return to Australia, aged only seventeen. The final chapter covers his struggles through the years 1920 to 1935 when the book was published. It is an honestly written book, with moments of humour, showing both the thoughtlessness of youth and moments of deep reflection, the genuine mateship of men in adversity, and the stoicism that helped many to survive. I will review the book in more depth later in the month.