Pidge's Poppies by Jan Andrews illustrated by Timothy Ide

Pidge and Henry (a pair of pigeons) live near the Canberra War Memorial. Henry explains:

"It's where people remember those who died in wars."

Pidge remembers stories from her ancestors about the war in 1939 and the war in 1914 and the way one of his long-ago family members received the Dickin Medal.

"If the telegraph lines from the battlefront were bombed, the pigeons could still carry messages from soldiers back to headquarters. They saved many soldiers' lives."

Pidge and Henry hear the guide talking about war heroes and poppies. It is time to build their nest and the scattered poppies left by visitors are perfect. Is this a true story? It certainly feels like one and the back cover says yes, it is so here is a missed opportunity - this book would be so much better with some back notes and more details about these true events at our Canberra War Memorial. Luckily it was easy to find this information.

Photo from the Australian War Memorial

Each day the pigeon has been flying down to the Tomb of the Unknown Australian Soldier to steal poppies, carefully crafting a nest in the lead-up to Remembrance Day in an alcove above the stained-glass window of a wounded Australian soldier. Read more here.

Watch a video from Channel Seven (23 seconds).

The illustrations in this book by Timothy Ide are terrific. I especially like the way the war memory pages are presented in sepia. He is the illustrator of another wonderful book - Tom the Outback Mailman. 

Here are a set of teachers notes from the publisher. Further reading from the Australian War Memorial.

I wonder why/how this 2024 book was missed by the CBCA 2025 Book of the Year judges. This is a book that could be shared with your youngest students who are sure to be amazed at the contribution of pigeons in many past wars.

Ide’s illustrations show a deep understanding of the text. The multi-layered illustrations create the visual story with much skill. The illustrations really shine a light on the story. The pigeons are lifelike in appearance and movement. The colours used vary according to the time frames. I love the sepia effect when the story travels through the world wars. The vivid red of the poppies sing and pop on the spreads they appear. Buzz Words

Look for these books too:

Lofty's Mission

Spies in the Sky

This final one might be hard to find in Australia but I saw it at the splendid D Day Museum in Portsmouth.

The Riding Gallery by Sally Murphy illustrated by Martina Heiduczek

The horses are four abreast in 14 rows. 

There are also two hand carved wooden elephant carriages. 

One elephant is white the other is grey. 

Tell me about this merry-go-round: It was the largest portable steam riding gallery seen in Australia, with a mechanical system allowing it to carry fifty tons without noise or vibration. It carried forty-eight ornately carved horses galloping four abreast; a steam-engine of brass against a highly decorative mirrored background; twisted brass upright bars and an elaborate organ with moving mechanical figures. The carved wooden horses, imported from Germany were impaled on brass bars made in Scotland. They were brightly painted with coloured glass on their harnesses and gargoyles on the rear of their saddles. The horses were all named after popular racehorses of the time. 

The carousel and organ were installed on the Esplanade of the Melbourne bay side suburb of St. Kilda adjacent to Luna Park, the recently built (December 1912) amusement park modelled on a similar American establishment at Coney Island. The carousel travelled the rural “show circuit” during the winter months for a number of years, before being located permanently on the Esplanade at St.Kilda. Anton Weniger, a German immigrant ran the carousel until he relinquished it to William Kelly after about fifty soldiers arrived at the Esplanade in January 1916 during the First World War and attacked Weniger’s Riding Gallery because he was German. (from “St.Kilda - The Show Goes On” by Anne Longmire, 1983). It is likely that the organ facade was damaged at this time since the maker’s name (Gebruder Bruder) was emblazoned on it above the Glockenspiel. The board bearing the maker’s name and the wings, which carried the drums, are missing from those parts of the facade that still exist. Source

You can see the merry-go-round here in Canberra. 

Sally Murphy saw this actual merry-go-round in Canberra (more about how it came to be there below) and this inspired her to do some research and then create a story told as a verse novel. 

I only had enough money

for one ride.

It had to be Mr Weniger's of course.

Rory wasn't so sure.

There are bigger rides

he said.

But he followed me anyway

and I could see he was impressed

that Mr Weniger

knew me.

And let us ride for free!

Afterwards though

he said something funny.

Something that shocked me.

Something I am not even sure is right.

Mr Weniger is all right,

he said.

For a German.

The story is told in three voices - Anton Weniger, Evelyn who has moved to St Kilda from Wodonga where she previously met Anton Weniger and Rory who has three older brothers who have just enlisted. The year is 1915 and Australia is now part of the war that is being waged in Europe. 

Here are some teachers notes from the publisher. Here is a detailed review from The Bottom Shelf. There are useful references included at the back of the book.

More background information: The story begins with Herbert Thomson, born in Melbourne in 1890. By age 19, he had helped his father install machines in coal mines and built a steam engine used in a boat launch on the Yarra River. By 27, he had set up his own business producing steam engines and boilers. In July 1899, he revealed his tour de force – a self-propelled, steam-driven vehicle – or, to put it another way, Australia’s first car. It reached a top speed of 24 km/h, hit during a 56 hour, 36 minute maiden journey from Bathurst to Melbourne. The Thomson Motor Car Company was born, and subsequent models reached 40 km/h and even beat a Benz imported from Germany. The company went out of business in 1912, but not before Herbert had designed a steam-powered carousel for St Kilda beach. It was a properly international effort. The animals, including 50 horses and two elephants, were hand carved in Germany, and sit four abreast in 14 rows, while the twisted brass poles were made in Scotland. Jaunty accompaniment was taken care of by a steam-powered 69-key pipe organ, also from Germany. It drew crowds in Melbourne until September 1973, when Canberra locals collectively raised $40,000 to purchase it from a public auction. Source

Listen to this ABC interview with Sally Murphy.

My friend tells me this book will be welcomed in our New South Wales schools because one of the 'set texts' for the English syllabus is Worse Things by Sally Murphy - sorry I have not been able to find the unit of work but she explained how she creates sets of books for classrooms filled with books to further extend these prescriptive English units containing books by the author being studied or books from a related genre or theme. I hope you can hear me cheering her hard work.

Here are some other books by Sally Murphy I have talked about on this blog:

Worse Things

Pearl verses the World

Toppling

Queen Narelle

This book by Pamela Rushby would be the perfect companion book to extend readers understanding of the way German citizens were treated in Australia during World War I.

Interned

Other books about Merry-go-rounds:

Merrylegs

The midnight fair

The Fortune Maker by Catherine Norton

"It meant living in the cheapest room in Silvertown, in a house on Pilchard Street at the very end of a terrace that tilted towards a lake of dark, oozing run-off from the coal tar factory. Their room had one tiny window they had to keep closed against the stench, especially in summer, and tide water seeped up through the floorboards all year round. Silvertown itself was built on a boggy bit of land between the river and the docks, in the shadow of dozens of factories that filled the streets with the foul stinks of sulphur, tar and the boiling bones and guts of slaughtered animals."

Maud Mulligan lives in desperately poor circumstances in a London slum. The year is 1913 - think about the significance of that date - suffragettes; Emaline Pankhurst; World War I is not far off; and the Industrial Revolution means thousands of people have come to London and many work in very dangerous factories. Maud might have a tough life, but she also has a dream to leave the slums and travel with her father to a better place. In their lodgings they have a jar and every day for the last seven years she has been saving so that one day they can buy two tickets on a streamer to somewhere else. Sadly, this cannot happen because the very old building where they live falls into the Thames. The money is gone. Then her father is killed by an elephant that was being winched off a ship down on the docks. He was knocked into the river and drowned. Now Maud has no family, no home, no money and only the clothes she had been wearing the day her home fell into the river.

Maud and her father had been living in an unused pantry in the home of Mrs Wray. Her husband is a violent man and for a while Maude manages to keep out of his way but then she is discovered and so now she is forced to live on the streets. 

This is a time of superstition. Maud is desperate to know the future. 

"Underneath the river, between the factories on the north bank and the gun yards on the south, there was a tunnel. ... for a few pennies you could find out your future."

In a heartbreaking scene we see Maud exchange her mother's beautiful green shawl so she can learn about her future. 

"How will I get out of Silverton?"

"Ruin! You will lose everything."

What does this prophecy mean? Maud is kidnapped by a man connected with a factory that makes dyes. The rich owners have also consulted a fortune teller - a famous and rich one. Somehow the colour yellow is important, as are chemistry lessons. Maud will escape, then be recaptured, then escape again. Along the way she meets rich people, corrupt people, and surprising new friends. She is even caught up in a suffragette protest march - a violent one. And there is another layer over the top of all of this which is hinted at on the cover. Maud herself is able to see the future - this is a gift but it could also put her in grave danger.

Maud is told to predict the colour that will be in fashion next year.

"Maud carefully lifted the crystal ball from the velvet-lined box and carried it to an armchair. ... She gasped when the flames flickered and changed. They became a column of figures, so indistinct as to be almost silhouettes. Even so, she could tell they were not ladies but men, moving slowly forwards and swaying.  ... The dying men were sucked abruptly into the ground."

All she can see is grey and black and mud and sludge. What does this mean?

This book has 312 pages and I read it all on one day - yes this book is THAT good. The final sentence made me gasp! I sincerely hope this book has been entered in our CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) awards and if it has, I am certain it will be a Younger Readers Notable title and almost certainly a short-listed book too. I am surprised I haven't heard more people talking about this book which was released in August, 2023. That said, do take a look at all the positive comments on Catherine Norton's web page. I also really like the cover - in fact that is what drew me to this book when I saw it in a local independent book shop. Catherine Norton's book Crossing was a 2015 CBCA Notable but I somehow missed reading it. 

Publisher blurb: London, 1913 Twelve-year-old Maud Mulligan knows there's no future for her in London, in the rat-infested slum where she grew up. But in the tunnel under the river are fortune tellers, Seers, who will tell your fortune for a few pennies. And then there is Mr Mandalay, Seer to the king and anyone else rich enough to afford him. When Mr Mandalay sees Maud in a foretelling for a wealthy factory heiress, she believes Maud can save her family from financial ruin. But how? And why? In a world shaken by suffragettes, scientists, and the threat of war, what could a girl like Maud do to change anyone's future - or even her own?

This is a mystical adventure about strength, determination and changing times. Full of optimism even in the most desperate of situations, it shows how survival can be achieved through the worst or best experience, depending on the strength within to face whatever you are dealt. A stunning, eye-catching cover equals the fantastic read. Kids' Book Review

This reviewer inhaled this book - I did too. 

Serious themes of grief and loss, gender roles, power and resilience underpin this adventure but never overburden this exhilarating roller coaster read. The writing is assured, rich in historical detail, and enlivened by delightful insights into character. ...  I inhaled this book in one sitting and I think many others will do the same. ... Its high production values indicate the publishers think they have a keeper and I agree with them. Story Links

This story feels like the writing of Charles Dickens. You could share some children's abridged versions of his famous stories with your child after reading The Fortune Maker.

Here are some teachers notes from the publisher. You can read chapters one and two here. 

Companion books:

My Friend the Octopus

The Runaways of Haddington Hall

The Mystery of the Clockwork Sparrow

The Truth about Verity Sparks

Withering by Sea

Counting on Grace

Moon over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool

Manifest verb: to show something clearly, through signs or actions

Manifest adjective: easily noticed or obvious

It's taken me a few days to read this 2011 winner of the Newbery Medal and I am glad I didn't rush because this book does require some concentration as we shift between 1917-1918 and 1936 and also juggle a myriad of small town sightly eccentric characters. I finished this book around 2am last night and on page 320 I gasped out loud because Clare Vanderpool made me care so much about the people of this town and, well I can't tell you what happened on October 28th, 1918 only to say this is a very sad moment and a powerful turning point in the story. Another marker of a great story to me is when I finish my journey, in this case to Manifest, I then am so keen to think of another reader who will enjoy this book - that's one of the many things I do miss about working in a school library. 

Here are a few of the characters:

• Abilene Tucker, a brave 12-year-old girl.
• Shady Howard, pastor, bootlegger and owner of the home where Abilene lives in Manifest
• Gideon Tucker, father of Abilene.  He sends her to Manifest. [absent parent]
• Miss Sadie Redizon, a mysterious Hungarian fortune teller who only tells stories about the past.
• Jinx, a boy that comes to Manifest.
• Soletta (Lettie) Taylor, Abilene's friend who is helping find the Rattler and Ruthanne's cousin
• Benedek (Ned) Gillian, friend of Jinx

Minor characters

• Hattie Mae Harper, the town's newspaper reporter who helps Abilene research her family's past.
• Sister Redempta, the town's school teacher nun, also helps with other affairs.
• Mr. Underhill, an undertaker
• Velma T Harkrader, chemistry teacher
• Eudora Larkin, president of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Manifest

Publisher blurb: The movement of the train rocked me like a lullaby. I closed my eyes to the dusty countryside and imagined the sign I’d seen only in Gideon’s stories: Manifest—A Town with a rich past and a bright future. Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was. Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone.” Abilene throws all caution aside when she heads down the mysterious Path to Perdition to pay a debt to the reclusive Miss Sadie, a diviner who only tells stories from the past. It seems that Manifest’s history is full of colourful and shadowy characters—and long-held secrets. The more Abilene hears, the more determined she is to learn just what role her father played in that history. And as Manifest’s secrets are laid bare one by one, Abilene begins to weave her own story into the fabric of the town.

The mementos in the box are a fishing lure; a tiny doll from a nesting set; a silver dollar; a skeleton key and a cork. "To me they were like treasures from a museum, things a person could study to learn about another time and the people who lived back then." And that's exactly what happens. Abilene loses her father's lucky compass in the local graveyard. It turns up in the home of Miss Sadie hanging from the roof of her verandah. Abilene breaks a huge pot in the garden when she climbs up to retrieve her precious compass and so as payment she has to do chores and gardening for Miss Sadie. Over the coming weeks Miss Sadie tells Abilene stories of the town specifically events of 1917-1918 and each story mysteriously mentions one of the objects from that cigar box she found under the floorboards at Shady's place. I do enjoy stories that feel like making a jigsaw. It is not until you reach the end of the story that the whole picture is revealed - this is very satisfying. 

Listen to an audio sample from chapter one. Ms Yingling did not really like Moon over Manifest but she does give a good story summary as usual. 

I just can’t even begin to tell how enamoured I am of this book. It is one of those deceptively simple slow-burning stories: the kind that needs to be savoured little by little so that the reader can truly absorb its subtle themes and its hidden meanings. It features stories within stories and the power that those stories hold in preserving memory as well as changing the future of a place. The Book Smugglers

Kirkus star review.

Clare Vanderpool is an American children's book author living in Wichita, Kansas. Her first book, Moon Over Manifest, won the 2011 Newbery Medal, becoming the first debut author to achieve the feat in thirty years. I am now very keen to read her second book published in 2014

Here is a list of Newbery winners from 2001 onwards:

• A Year Down Yonder (2001)
• A Single Shard (2002)
• Crispin (2003)
• The Tale of Despereaux (2004)
• Kira-Kira (2005)
• Criss Cross (2006)
• The Higher Power of Lucky (2007)
• Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! (2008)
• The Graveyard Book (2009)
• When You Reach Me (2010)
• Moon Over Manifest (2011)
• Dead End in Norvelt (2012)
• The One and Only Ivan (2013)
• Flora & Ulysses (2014)
• The Crossover (2015)
• Last Stop on Market Street (2016)
• The Girl Who Drank the Moon (2017)
• Hello, Universe (2018)
• Merci Suárez Changes Gears (2019)
• New Kid (2020)
• When You Trap a Tiger (2021)
• The Last Cuentista (2022)
• Freewater (2023)

These might seem like strange choices but here are some companion reads:

Pony

The Parker Inheritance

One came home

Someplace to call Home

Walking with Miss Millie

Three times Lucky

This Old Thing by Cassandra Webb illustrated by Tony Flowers

Today is ANZAC DAY here in Australia. I do hope teachers try to read an ANZAC book with their students when school returns tomorrow.  This Old Thing is very new and it is a perfect book to share with your younger students. Here is my Pinterest with other titles.

Begin with the cover where you can see a young boy looking through an old suitcase - many of the objects scattered on the floor of the garage will be explored in the story. The khaki green immediately shows this suitcase contains items that once belonged to a solider. 

Turn to the start of the story and we see a school notice asking the students to bring something old for ANZAC day. Turning each  page we see the boy selecting objects from the suitcase such as a newspaper, slouch hat, tin cup, playing cards, a photo and a gas mask. On the facing page each of these objects is depicted in a scene from World War I - things used by the owner of the suitcase - his great-great-granddad.

The different end papers in this book are brilliant – filled with objects from the suitcase. (And very sadly you won't see these on the online version of this book from Storybox Library so I want to say please find the book and don't rely on the  video presentation) These curious things are sure to elicit lots of very meaningful discussions with readers.  The book design of the modern child on one page and the memory/scene of the war experience of his great-great grandfather on the other works so well and then Tony Flowers skilfully breaks this pattern and he puts the one scene above the other and finally merges them together in the final scene. Also at times the great-great grandad's story encroaches across the central ditch of the book which asks the reader to interpret how the generations are linked. 

Each object is linked in an interesting, and historically accurate way with its function in the war but there is nothing too confronting or violent here for younger readers. The repeated refrain will work well to hold their attention. Tony Flowers perfectly interprets the spare text.  Every illustration, especially those of the war, contains a wealth of unspoken stories. I love the way the boy has his dog and so does the young soldier. The faded image of the solider standing behind and gazing down at the young boy is a poignant moment of connection between the past and the present.

Taking a close look at the boy's face we see the boy almost joking around with some of the objects  (like the gas mask) and then the reality of what this object meant for the soldier. It’s also interesting how the boy’s facial expressions change as he becomes more aware of the significance of each object and the enormous sense of pride and recognition he experiences at the end. This is a wonderful book to explore that notion of memorial with young readers – how meaningful objects and stories of the past are and how they can help us understand history and the challenges our ancestors faced.

This Old Thing is that rare story: a tender tale that is neither sentimental nor cliched. It offers the reader something new with its double perspective; in the written and design/illustrative text. The child portrayed is an 'everychild' character and the accompanying author and illustrator notes deepen our understanding of the story and the literary approaches taken. The textured hard cover with the shiny texture of the title, boy, dog, chest and war objects are a wonderful prelude to the story. 

It is clear a huge amount of research has gone into the war scenes in this book but they have been created so carefully with an awareness the emotional maturity of the intended audience. At the same time this is a book that should be used with older students as a perfect way to discuss primary sources. I found a very comprehensive set of teaching notes from Tony Flowers where he describes his work at the War Memorial sourcing materials for this book. Read more about this book on the blog Reading Opens Doors.

I would pair this book with these:

Present from the Past

The Big Brass Key by Ruth Park illustrated by Noela Young.

 

I am not usually a fan of time switch stories but of course our award winning Australian author Ruth Park (1917-2010) does this SO well. Her idea of having a small dog move to the 'wrong' time is a brilliant story device which gives the plot momentum creating an urgency for Eliza (who lives in our time zone) to find a way back to Bethie who is living next door in 1914.

Eliza and her sister Paulina have moved to a new house in the Sydney suburb of Manly. The house is one hundred years old with a large garden. Next door there is a block of neglected holiday units and a very unfriendly man who owns the building. Exploring under their house, a place they have been forbidden to visit, Eliza finds a large old key. The sisters try to fit the key into various doors but with out success and then one evening the timber fence beside the house changes.

"Behind her was no fence at all, but a high, stone wall that bordered the street. A rose waved a long feeler over the top, and she saw a tall camellia tree with dark pink flowers beside the slate roof of the cottage. What cottage? Where was the block of flats owns by the cranky old man?"

Eliza hears a dog barking on the other side and then she discovers her key opens a door in the wall. Stepping through she meet Bethie and her small dog. She also meets Bethie's nasty brother Matty. When she flees back through the door little Tot follows her. Mum and Dad have said no pets. They don't have extra money right now after buying the house. Eliza needs to return Tot but when will the fence become a wall again?

"The enclosing stone wall looked as if it had been chipped out by convict stone masons in the long ago. Fishbone ferns and nasturtiums tumbled down the crevices. Once the wall had stretched across the bottom of the garden as well. Anyone could see that. But now there was a paling fence topped with spiteful barbed wire."

"All at once she heard horse ambling along Addison Road. There was a quavering hoot from an old, old car. And a stream whistle as the Manly ferry drew away from the jetty."

I love the line drawings in this book by the late Noela Young. She illustrated another famous Ruth Park book - The Muddle-headed wombat. Ruth Park is the author of another famous Australian historical fiction title -  Playing Beatie Bow (for readers aged 14+). 

The other strength of this book comes from the very rich vocabulary. Ruth Park is not writing down to her younger audience even though this book only has 71 pages.

Here are some examples:

• disdainful
• leprous
• swineherd
• joists
• thunderstruck
• antiquated

I also love the character descriptions:

"Elizabeth was always called Eliza. She had a cheerful face and eyes like blue crystals. Her fairish hair was nibbled short. She nearly always went barefooted."

"Right in front of them was a little girl in a brown pinafore, an astonished look on her face and a skipping rope in her hand."

The only really dated reference comes when Paulina and her friend use a cassette player for some dance music. I guess we don't use the term shortie pyjamas but a modern reader could easily guess the meaning. This book was first published in 1983 and so it has long been out of print. The copy I borrowed from a library is now quite yellowed and stained so I guess it will now be weeded. The small font, purple cover (different from the one above) and the old-fashioned looking girl on the cover most certainly mean this book will just continue to languish on the library shelves. It was last borrowed over a decade ago. 

Rachel's War by Mark Wilson

The story of an Australian WWI nurse

"This story was inspired by the true story of Rachel Pratt, an Australian army nurse serving in France during World War I who was awarded the Military medal 'for service above and beyond the call of duty during an air raid on 4 July, 1917."

As with all Mark Wilson books it is clear the text and illustrations in this book have been meticulously researched. You can feel his passion about the importance of sharing this story. Rachel’s story is told gently but realistically, and evokes a sense of hope amidst the horrors of war. There is just enough information to teach and entertain without being overly distressing. 

"Rachel remembered her mother's words about being strong and working hard. She ... dreamed of one day being able to help people."

"Rachel and Elise not only treated soldiers coming in from the desert with battle wounds, but also typhoid fever and influenza. Some even had gangrene from frostbite, which often ended in amputation."

"Bombs exploded, one after the other. Then with a mighty crash, one exploded right behind Rachel."

In this book I appreciated the moral compass which Mark communicates when we read about Rachel’s reaction to the young Turkish soldiers.  The splashes of poppies on the end papers are both pretty but also perhaps echo the splashes of blood seen by the nurses on the battlefield. The page near the end where it seems that Rachel may have been killed was so powerful.  I was enormously relieved to read on and discover she survived – this shows that as a reader I was deeply invested into this emotional text.  

It is good to have the addition of the two fact pages at the end of the book but in addition to this, it would have been good to have a list of picture credits and a list of references for further reading which I think Mark has included with some of his other books. The cover is striking and shows the compassion of the nurse while behind her we see the exotic places she has travelled to (the pyramids) and the grim reality of marching soldiers. Every part of the design used in this book has been created with enormous care. 

Exquisite illustrations by the author, Mark Wilson, allow our hearts to be moved by the descriptive images – some in colour, others in black fine line pen. Kids' Book Review

Rachel’s War is one of the books that contributes to this history and the hidden stories, allowing them to come to life. The Book Muse

Wilson shows in both words and pictures, the hardships which confronted the nurses: shortages of basic equipment, food and sanitation as well as staff. Rachel and Elsie manage some incidental sightseeing in Egypt before being transferred to France but continue treating men with battle wounds and more complex health issues. Each of the girls suffers physical and mental traumas, including Rachel herself being wounded after a German bombing raid. Reading Time

Here are a small selection of picture books by Mark Wilson - all highly recommended:

His newest book will be released later this year:

Rachel's War is a 2022 CBCA Book of the Year Notables : Eve Pownall Award

Take a look at my previous post where I talk about another book that celebrates to role of nurses during war - The Flying Angel by Vicki Bennett illustrated by Tull Suwannakit.  

Interned by Pamela Rushby

Authors of historical fiction set themselves a huge task. They need to be dedicated to their project in order to complete the hours of research needed so their book is accurate. At the same time the writer needs to weave together a story with an engaging narrative. In some books of historical fiction it feels as though the author has a pages of facts which they want to showcase or even shove into the plot.  That is not the case here with Interned.  It is very clear Pamela Rushby has done an enormous amount of research for her book but then, as I heard Jackie French once say, the author needs to throw all of that away and just let the flavour of the historical period naturally percolate through the story. 

Jackie says: Perhaps that’s what my books really are -- a whisper that becomes an obsession; years of research that suddenly crystallise into a story, and then the labour of turning the past into fiction, woven with facts.

In this article for Writers Digest I found these wise words about writing historical fiction. Pamela Rushby follows all of this advice:

1. Have fun with the research, but do your homework. 

This should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Borrow some good reference books. Become comfortable with the time period. Try to understand both the larger scope of the period, while examining aspects of daily life. This will help create an authentic backdrop for your novel.

2. Let the characters engage with the historical details. 

This goes along with that “show don’t tell” truism writers are told all the time. Rather than just dumping a bunch of facts on the poor reader, let your characters interact with these details with all these senses. Let them smell the offal dumped onto the cobblestone streets. Let them squint in the fading light of the tallow candles. Let them feel the tingling sensation as the physician places a leech on their bare skin.

3. Allow your characters to question and explore their place in society. 

This will help reveal the larger political, social, cultural context of the time. What were the expectations for women? For sailors? For criminals? How did people from different parts of society interact with one another?

Interned is set in 1914. Gretta lives in Singapore and Tilly lives in Brisbane. 

"When war breaks out and both countries turn on their families for being German , the two girls find themselves taken from their homes, interned at a camp in rural New South Wales. Far away from everything they have ever know, Gretta and Tilly are forced to face prejudice, overcome adversity and to make their own community."

This story is told though the eyes of these two very different girls using alternating voices. Both girls demonstrate enormous courage and enormous care of their families. 

I knew about the internment camps which were set up here in Australia during WWII but I had no idea about the situation during WWI. Pamela Rushby gives her readers a strong sense of the place, the confusion, the harsh climate, the recurring heartbreak, and the strong bonds of family relationships. Pamela wrote this book because she discovered her own grandfather came to Australia from Germany as a tiny baby in 1880 and the family settled in Queensland. In 1900 the largest non-British immigrant group in Australia were people of German descent. Many lived in Queensland and South Australia. 

In the author notes Pamela writes about the beginning of World War I:

"Almost immediately after war was declared, a wave of anti-German propaganda swept the nation. ... German schools and clubs were forced to close. German music was banned. Communities with German names were renamed. ... Almost seven thousand people of German descent were detained... (including) German families that had been living and working in British colonies in New Guinea or south-east Asia."

I highly recommend this book for readers aged 10+ especially for those with an interest in history. Interned will be published in March 2022. Huge thanks to Beachside Bookshop for my advance copy. 

Companion reads (note these are all set during WWII):

Red Day