When I think of Australian women’s military service, particularly in relation to World War 1, I think of the women of Australian Army Nursing Service. 2,139 AANS nurses served overseas during World War I attending wounded Australian soldiers in all major campaigns. They worked behind the lines in field hospitals and on hospital ships that … Continue reading Book Review – One Woman’s War and Peace by Wing Commander Sharon Bown (Ret’d)
One Minute Book Review – Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole
Letters from Skye is a gentle story of love, longing and war told through a series of letters. Poet Elspeth Dunn’s story begins in 1912 when she receives her first fan letter from an American student, David Graham. This is the beginning of an extended correspondence between the two which continues through the war years, … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole
Early Modern Women – Elizabeth Paston (1429-1488)
I have been fascinated by the 15th and 16th centuries since I studied Early Modern British history in my first year at university. In my reading over the ensuing years I have caught sight of people who had no influence on the grand scheme of things yet they brought history to life, reminding me vividly that … Continue reading Early Modern Women – Elizabeth Paston (1429-1488)
One Minute Book Review – Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
Grief is the Thing with Feathers is a slim almost surreal novel which through prose, dialogue and poetry traces the grieving of a father and two young sons coming to terms with the death of their wife and mother. Their life in chaos, Crow arrives in the middle of the night and takes on the … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter
One Minute Book Review – Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell
Epitaph is the sequel to Doc and has all the strengths of that novel. It continues the story of John Henry ‘Doc’ Holiday and the Earp brothers and carries it through to the aftermath of the shootout at the O.K. Corral. The novel opens in 1880 in Tombstone with Josie Marcus, the daughter of Jewish … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Epitaph by Mary Doria Russell
My Reading – March 2017
Nutshell by Ian McEwan Miss Nobody by Ethel Carnie Epitaph by Maria Russell Doria One Woman's War and Peace : A Nurse's Journey Through the Royal Australian Air Force by Sharon Bown
Book Review – Miss Nobody by Ethel Carnie
The 19th century produced a great many female novelists from Jane Austen at the beginning of the century through the Brontes and Elizabeth Gaskell to Ellen Woods to name some of the most famous. Writing at the same time as Ethel Carnie at the start of the 20th century were, among others, Virginia Woolf, Dorothy … Continue reading Book Review – Miss Nobody by Ethel Carnie
One Minute Book Review- Fair Helen by Andrew Greig
In Fair Helen Andrew Greig takes the Border ballad 'Fair Helen of Kirkconnel Lea' and weaves a story of intrigue and doomed love in the Scottish border lands of the late 16th century. The not quite reliable narrator is Harry Langton cousin of Helen Irvine and best friend of Adam Fleming, the Scottish Romeo and … Continue reading One Minute Book Review- Fair Helen by Andrew Greig
In My Garden – Lithops
This week it is more a case of On My Windowsill. Lithops,a genus of succulent plants in the ice plant family Aizoaceae, are native to southern Africa. They are commonly know as stone plants or living stones. Lithops were discovered in 1811 by botanist John Burchell when he picked up what he thought was a … Continue reading In My Garden – Lithops
One Minute Book Review – Nutshell by Ian McEwan
Nutshell by Ian McEwan is a tale of murder and deceit told by an unborn child near to term. This is no ordinary child - he is well read and erudite with a strong grasp of world politics, his understanding drawn, no doubt, from his mother’s avid podcast listening. He has an understanding of familial … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Nutshell by Ian McEwan
Catherine Meyrick 