Today, I’m delighted to be sharing an excerpt from Clare Flynn’s newly released book Sisters at War as part of a blog tour hosted by The Coffee Pot Book Club. Over the following days, Hannah agonised over how to tackle what she had begun to think of as ‘The Judith Situation’. She became increasingly convinced … Continue reading Sisters at War by Clare Flynn
World War 2
Book Review – Call of the Curlew by Elizabeth Brooks
Call of the Curlew begins on 30 December 2015. 86-year-old Virginia Wrathmell has known for years that one New Year’s Eve she will walk onto the marsh and meet her end there. She has been waiting for a sign. The sign has now appeared on her doorstep in the form of a fragile curlew’s skull. … Continue reading Book Review – Call of the Curlew by Elizabeth Brooks
One Minute Book Review – Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski
Little Boy Lost begins at Christmas 1943 when poet Hilary Wainwright receives the news, brought by Frenchman, Pierre Verdier, that his three year old son, John, is lost somewhere in France. Hilary has only seen his son once, just after his birth, as he had to flee France following the German invasion. His wife Lisa, … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski
One Minute Book Review – Tomaree by Debbie Robson
Tomaree begins in 1972 with Peggy Lockwood returning to Nelson Bay, a coastal town in New South Wales where she had grown up. In 1943 Peggy had married an American naval Lieutenant, Tom Lockwood, who was stationed at Nelson Bay and, as a war bride, Peggy had moved to the United States following the war. … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Tomaree by Debbie Robson
One Minute Book Review – Gilgamesh by Joan London
Gilgamesh by Joan London begins in 1918 with Frank Clark an Australian soldier in a convalescent hospital in England meeting Ada who is there ‘to visit the soldiers’. He invites her to come with him back to Australia, to ‘go far away to a country where there will never be another war’. Ada accepts the … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – Gilgamesh by Joan London
Book Review – One Woman’s War and Peace by Wing Commander Sharon Bown (Ret’d)
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 – The Forgotten Highlander by Alastair Urquhart
This week something slightly longer than a one minute review. The Forgotten Highlander. My Incredible Story of Survival During the War in the Far East is a memoir by Alistair Urquhart (1919-2016). It touches on Urquhart's childhood and post-war life but concentrates on the period in which he was a Prisoner of War of the … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – The Forgotten Highlander by Alastair Urquhart
The Feast of the Holy Innocents
On 28th December, in the midst of Christmas and New Year celebrations, sits the Feast of the Holy Innocents, also called Childermas. This day commemorates the massacre of boys aged under two ordered by King Herod to ensure the death of the newborn King of the Jews whose existence he had been made aware of … Continue reading The Feast of the Holy Innocents
One Minute Book Review – The Darkest Hour by Barbara Erskine
Barbara Erskine is one of my favourite writers of popular time-slip fiction. The modern narrative in this novel concerns art historian, Lucy Standish, who is writing a biography of wartime artist, Evie Lucas, about whom little is known. The historical narrative begins in the summer of 1940 at the start of the Battle of Britain … Continue reading One Minute Book Review – The Darkest Hour by Barbara Erskine
4 June 1940 -Winston Churchill’s Speech to the House of Commons
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkTw3_PmKtc Short speeches are often the most effective; however, even in lengthy speeches there are often shorter sections which capture perfectly the mood of the time and are remembered long after. Winston Churchill's 'We will fight on the beaches' speech is such a case. Most people think of it only as that half sentence passage … Continue reading 4 June 1940 -Winston Churchill’s Speech to the House of Commons
