We That Are Left
Author: Lisa Bigelow
Publisher: Allen and Unwin
Release date: 23rd August 2017
R.R.P: $29.99
Pages: 393 pages
Melbourne 1941. Headstrong young Mae is still head over heels in love with Harry Parker; a dashing naval engineer. After six years of marriage and desperate to start a family, Mae is heavily pregnant when she hears that Harry has just recieved his dream posting to HMAS Sydney. Just months after Mae becomes a mother, she learns Harry's ship is missing.
Meanwhile, Grace Fowler is battling prejudice to become a reporter on the afternoon daily newspaper, The Tribune, while waiting for word on whether her journalist boyfriend PHIL Taylor, captured during the fall of Singapore, is still alive.
Surrounded by their friends and families, Mae and Grace struggle to keep hope alive I'm the face of hardship and despair. Then Mae's neighbour and Grace's boss Sam Barton tells Mae about a rumour that the Japanese have towed the damaged ship to Singapore and taken the crew prisoner. Mae's life is changed forever as she focuses her efforts on willing her husband home.
Set in inner Melbourne and rural Victoria, We That Are Left is a moving and haunting novel about love and war, the terrifying thin line between happiness and tragedy, and how servicemen and women are not the only lives lost when tragedy strikes during war.
My review
Thoughts on the book: We That Are Left tells the story of two young women who are swept up in a whirlwind after being told that their partners have been listed as missing while serviving overseas in the war. Firstly there is Mae who has married the love of her life Harry Parker, they are saving for their dream house and she is heavily pregnant with their first child. She is your typical housewife in that era as she has everything spick and span, is always dressed and made up appropriately and always has the evening meal cooked and ready for her husband when he wants it. But all that is ripped away when they learn that Harry has been given his dream posting on the HMAS Sydney. Mae can't ask him to give up his dream can she but she also doesn't want to have this baby, let alone raise it, by herself without Harry by her side. While Harry is posted up north Mae has their beautiful baby girl but the delivery wasn't as smooth as they were intending. When Harry makes a weekend trip back to see the baby and Mae everything isn't like before and the last words Mae speaks to Harry before he leaves are in anger. Next thing she knows Harry's ship is missing and her whole world falls apart. Can Mae cope without her one true love and raise their baby the way they always wanted or will she fall apart?
Then there is Grace Fowler. Grace grew up in the country and moved to the city to take up a job as a secretary for the local paper. But having grown up around her father's paper back in the country, Grace secretly habours the desire to be a female reporter which is looked down on as the newspaper is a man's world. That's why she took the job at the newspaper so she could secretly make her way up the chain and become a reporter. But suddenly being a reporter isn't the only thing on her mind, a certain cheeky reporter names Phil Taylor catches her eye and eventually the two start dating. But with more and more boys being sent overseas Grace starts to get to do little roles at the paper but she doesn't get the credit for them. Suddenly she is doing more and more for the paper and she is really starting to make a name for herself. But when PHIL gets sent overseas and is captured Grace must deal with the fact that she may never see him again.
We That Are Left is a story about never giving up hope and faith in the face of tragedy, following your dreams and not letting anything stop you or get in your way of achieving them and above all else it's about heartbreaking reality of love. Lisa Bigelow has woven a truly remarkable story which transports us right back to the WWII era in Victoria, Australia. Even though the war never officially reached here we get to experience what it was like for all of the women who were left behind in this moment of history and the shattering moments where you find out your loved one might not come back and how two individuals cope. Both Grace and Mae cope very differently and I think Mae struggles the most. She never gives up hope that her husband is going to come home no matter what the news reports and I think this is mainly because she doesn't want their last moment together to be that she spoke I'll to him. I can totally understand that and how hard it would have been for her recovering from the awful birth that she had and then learning about her husband's death. Then you have Grace who just keeps getting on with everything and hiding her fear that she may never see her partner again. She is so strong and such a positive role model to young women no matter what the era that you should never give up in your dreams and fight wi all your might because they can come true if you believe enough.
Lastly while reading We That are Left I kept picturing my grandparents because this was their life when they were younger and it gives me a real sense of what they went through and reiterated what a huge sacrifice all these men and women made during WWII and all of the other wars that Australia has helped fight. I personally can't thank them all enough letting us live in this amazing war free country. I also wanted to quickly mentioned that I loved that it mentioned the country town of Horsham. My in-laws live in Horsham and we are moving down near there next year so it was indeed a nice suprise to see it mentioned in the book.
Well done on your amazing debut release of We That are Left, Lisa Bigelow and I can't wait to read more from you.
Rating: 4/5
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