CANBERRA WEEKLY: ANZAC DAY 2023 READING
This week in the Canberra Weekly I had the pleasure of reviewing three great books that are ideal for reading this ANZAC Day.
Ross McMullin’s Life So Full Of Promise (Scribe), is an impressive achievement. A follow up to his highly regarded Farewell, Dear People, it is a multi-biography about Australia’s lost generation of World War I and features a collection of interwoven stories set around the war.
The biographies capture soldiers and those left behind in Australia. It creates a fascinating picture of Australia and has an interesting side emphasis on cricketers. It really shows how Australian culture and attitudes have changed. At nearly 650 pages, it is not a quick read, but McMullin’s easy flowing narrative style keeps it interesting and easy to digress.
In the Canberra Weekly I said:
“Ross McMullin’s Life So Full Of Promise is an impressive achievement, and a moving portrait of a generation lost to war. A sequel to his acclaimed Farewell, Dear People, it is a prodigiously researched, multi-biography of those affected by the First World War. Through the stories of everyday people, McMullin constructs a fascinating social history of early 20th century Australia, as well as a moving account of the horrors of war. It contains a mass of detail, all of which is compellingly conveyed by McMullin’s lucid and engaging narrative style to very good effect. A major contribution to our understanding of Australia’s past.”
Dispatch From Berlin, 1943 (NewSouth) by Anthony Cooper with Thorsten Perl is also a very interesting read.
In 1943 five journalists, including Australians Alf King from the Sydney Morning Herald and Norm Stockton from the Sydney Sun and famed American radio broadcaster Ed Murrow, were selected to join a British night-time bombing raid on Berlin. The five flew on different aircraft and experienced first hand the fear and devastation of a bombing raid. Of the five only two made it back safely on the night, while another was shot down and captured.
Cooper follows the path of the 400 Lancaster bombers involved and provides brief snapshots of some of the bombing crews. He was also fortunate enough to match a German fighter pilot’s account to the raid, enabling participants on both sides of the battle over Berlin to be heard. While on the ground there are recollections from German civilians and military personnel caught in the raid.
It is a fascinating and moving story, and the account, by the journalist who was captured by Germans, of his time as a POW is also equally interesting, although his reliability is sometimes questionable. As an aside, included in the five was Norwegian journalist and activist Nordahl Grieg and the details of his experience and importance to Norway, is very illuminating. In all, it is one of the most engaging and enjoyable pieces of military history that I have read in some time.
In the Canberra Weekly I said:
“Equally fascinating is Anthony Cooper and Thorsten Perl’s Dispatch From Berlin, 1943. In December 1943 five journalists, including two Australians, were selected to join a British night-time air raid on Berlin. They were each assigned to one of the 400 Lancaster bombers that flew on the dangerous mission. Only two made it back safely, while one was captured after parachuting out of his doomed aircraft. Dispatch From Berlin, 1943 is an engrossing account of the raid and its aftermath, using the journalists’ eyewitness reports, as well as accounts from German pilots and civilians caught up in it. An outstanding piece of military history.”
Finally, Anthea Hodgson’s The War Nurses (Penguin) is a moving fictional tribute to those nurses who were captured after the Fall of Singapore, particularly those who were raped and killed on Bangka Island.
In the Canberra Weekly I said:
“Anthea Hodgson’s The War Nurses is a powerful novel that is inspired by true events that were remarkably suppressed until 2019. In 1942 a group of 65 serving nurses were among the last people to be evacuated from Singapore on the SS Vyner Brooke. When the ship was destroyed by bombs, 21 of the nurses were washed ashore on Bangka Island where they were raped and murdered by Japanese forces.
Anthea’s great-aunt Minnie was one of those killed, and this moving novel tells the emotional story of the nurses that were killed and those that survived in prisoner of war camps. Unforgettable.”
Some moving and insightful books for reading this ANZAC Day.