ARTHUR’S WARBY ARTHUR BANCROFT WITH JOHN HARMAN, VIKING, $39.95.
An exceptional memoir by 19-year-old sailor Arthur Bancroft, whose secret diary tells a courageous story of mateship, survival and enduring love.
Arthur was not only a gifted writer, but also a cartoonist who illustrated letters to his sweetheart, Mirla, now his wife of 65 years. Her recollections appear as a refrain at the end of each chapter. Arthur’s voice is true blue: “You beauty!” he declared on being assigned to HMAS Perth.
It was when the ship set sail in 1942 for Java that Arthur’s war really began. Perth was struck by a torpedo and sunk in oil-slicked seas, and Arthur ended up as a Japanese POW. Stripped of their stinking oil-soaked rags, the POWS wore loin cloths for the next two and a half years, and lived on paltry rations of rice amid open sewers in extreme temperatures. Building the back-breaking Burma-Thailand railway, Arthur – whose shoeless childhood prepared him for the gruelling jungle marches – worked alongside an elephant with its date of birth, 1888, seared into its hide. It made Arthur feel secure, like “being in the shadow of the harbour bridge”. A charming read.
THE GOOD DAUGHTER BY HONEY BROWN, VIKING, $32.95.VIKING, $39.95.
This novel is as Aussie as an old ute covered in orange dust and as menacing as a blue heeler gone rogue.
Rebecca Toyer is a good girl with a bad reputation. When her truckie stepfather leaves her alone for two weeks and a local woman goes missing, Rebecca begins to learn some hard lessons. She falls for the local bad boy, crosses the town drug dealer and discovers a long-hidden truth about herself – you can only hope that Rebecca has what it takes to cope.
The novel is filled with moments of almost unbearable tension – if it was on screen you’d be peering between your fingers. It’s a compelling read that would make a thrilling, gritty film.
The Whisperer, written by a newly discovered Italian writer, spent a year on Italy’s best-seller lists.
Dishevelled criminologist Goran Gavila and young policewoman Mila Vasquez are on the hunt for a child abductor. When six small severed arms are found buried in a forest, the search becomes frantic. Gavila’s team follows the clues into a dark world – and more than one of them is in deeper than first appears.
The plot is clever, perhaps tighter than Stieg Larsson’s novels, but the characters are not as sympathetic. A better comparison would be Val McDermid’s Tony Hill books. If you like your killers prolific and your detectives a little twisted, you’ll enjoy this.
THE MEMORY OF LOVE BY AMINATTA FORNA, BLOOMSBURY, $32.99.
Set in Sierra Leone, the book interweaves the story of two generations. Professor Elias Cole tells of life on campus in Freetown in the late 1960s, his passion for the beautiful Saffia and his relationship with her charismatic but dangerously politically active husband.
Listening to this unreliable narrative is Adrian Lockheart, an English psychologist escaping a stultifying life. All the characters are beautifully drawn, their experiences of a horrific war subtly told. As their stories unfold, their lives collide in surprising ways, bringing tragedy, truth and hope. The Memory Of Love is not a book to be hurried, but it will reward the reader who gives it the time and thought it deserves.
TIGERLILY’S ORCHIDS BY RUTH RENDELL, HUTCHINSON, $32.95.
Ruth Rendell is such a master of mystery that not only is it impossible to guess the identity of the killer, for a long while it’s hard to figure out who is going to die.
Luckily, not one of the characters that live in the apartments of London’s Lichfield House is particularly likeable. Yet they all jump off the page: Stuart Font is vain, shallow and lazy; caretaker Wally Scurlock has a perverted passion; alcoholic Olwen Curtis has decided to drink herself to death; an aloof Asian family comes and goes at odd hours; and a beautiful but desperate young woman catches Stuart’s imagination, a woman he calls Tigerlily. Yet what’s happening in Tigerlily’s house? You’ll never guess.
THE CHANGI BROWNLOWBY ROLAND PERRY, HACHETTE AUSTRALIA, $35.
The Changi Brownlowis the moving and powerful story of Peter Chitty – a farm hand with unfathomable physical and mental fortitude from Snowy River country – who was one of seven in his family who volunteered to serve in World War II.
Set in the worst conditions imaginable – inside the infamous Changi prison in Singapore and on the Thai-Burma Railway – this is a story of courage and the invincibility of the human spirit. Chitty and a group of Aussie POWs created their own AFL competition in the prison, complete with a Brownlow Medal at the end of the season.
IN OFFICE HOURSBY LUCY KELLAWAY, FIG TREE, $29.95.
Sharp, witty, poignant, observant,In Office Hours, by British Financial Times columnist Lucy Kellaway, ticks all the boxes – especially the in-box – for a Bridget Jones-style romantic comedy for the email, text and iPod generation.
High-flying executive and mother of two, 46-year-old Stella Bradberry, is inches away from being invited to join the board of Atlantic Energy Oil, while single mum and astute junior PA, 27-year-old Bella Chambers, hides a handy degree in Russian up her sleeve. So what makes these smart women embark on affairs with such unsuitable men?
This is a slick, compelling and original foray into the confusion of email and text etiquette, set against seismic shifting in global oil markets and calorie-conscious lunches of tricolore salad – “Hold the pine nuts, the dressing and only one slice of mozzarella”. Brilliantly, the women manage to stay on top (mostly) and polished – unlike the boardroom table with the post-coital stain which the oil company boss tries to remove with bleach.
Restaurateur and TV chef Kylie Kwong is passionate about sustainable food and ethical eating, and this book is a tribute to that ethos.
Kylie heads off on an inspiring journey around Australia to meet the farmers and producers who are dedicated not only to organic produce, but to food that tastes better. The book features more than 100 recipes, but it is the tales of the people behind the food – including Saskia Beer (Maggie Beers’ feisty daughter) – that make this cookbook a special read.
Controversy surrounded her before she even set sail, but teen solo sailor Jessica Watson proved the critics wrong, writes Michael Sheather – and her mum was right there, all the way.
Jessica Watson, the 16-year-old, who has become the youngest person to sail non-stop and unassisted around the world, has a simple dedication to her book, True Spirit. “To everyone who followed and shared the voyage with me, thank you. And to Mum …”
“Mum was my first supporter,” says Jessica, now 17, who made a triumphant return to Sydney Harbour on May 15 this year, after her 210-day adventure.
“My father and everyone else took a long time to come on board, but it was Mum who sat down with me and listened while I told her I’m going to make this happen. The hardest part of this was convincing people that I could do it.”
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On the surface, Jessica Watson’s story is straightforward: a young girl who had a dream to sail around the world and, despite the greatest odds, devoted herself, mind and body, to make that dream a reality. Beneath this simple tale is another that is far more complex. That story is about a determined young woman whose dreams set her on a course through treacherous waters.
Yet beside her stood her mother, who had to learn not just to accept and trust, but that, sometimes, the best way to hold those you love close is to let them go.
“At first, I thought it might be just a phase she was going through, that Jess would be all enthusiasm for a while, but then move on to something else,” says Jessica’s mum, Julie, 46. “But that didn’t happen and I had to make a choice: was I going to support her or not? Very early on, I saw how determined she was and I knew Jessica was going to do it – in a bathtub if she had to. So, I thought, I might as well help as much as I can and make sure she does it safely.”
The decision to help Jess and support her brought with it a host of problems, not the least of which was a barrage of criticism which reflected on both Julie and her husband, Roger, as parents.
Many said Jess was too young and too inexperienced. Yet Julie’s confidence in her daughter never faltered.
“I can understand how people might have trouble relating to how I came to support Jessica’s decision,” says Julie. “It’s probably not a normal response from a mum. I always come back to the fact that if they had a daughter like Jessica, then they would believe in her, too, and I reckon they’d all make the same decision I did.”
Your say: Do you think Jessica’s parents made the right choice? Share with us below.
True Spirit by Jessica Watson, published by Hachette Australia, $35, is available now.
Read more of this story in the August issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
Photography by Grant Matthews. Styling by Judith Cook.
On the nightly news, she is cool and composed. Yet as Bryce Corbett discovers, you only have to put our new PM in stilettos and delve a little into her personal life to find the woman behind the politician.
Julia Gillard is running late. The Royal Australian Air Force jet that will be flying her from Sydney to Darwin this evening is sitting on the tarmac, its crew patiently waiting to receive their new prime minister. When, eventually, Australia’s most famous redhead bursts onto the plane and bustles her way into the main cabin, her entrance is preceded with a flurry of apologies.
“I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry to have kept you all waiting!” she effuses to the uniformed crew, none of whom seem to know what to say to a prime minister begging their forgiveness.
She is dressed in a smart black pantsuit with an elegant string of pearls around her neck. The hair – that famous, voluminous mop – seems to want to break free of the styling to which it has been subjected for this day’s round of official engagements. Fresh from announcing a new asylum-seeker policy and only days after brokering a mining tax resolution, she has emissions trading, an election date announcement and a furious stint of campaigning looming on her to-do list.
“Let’s see. Right now, I’ve got an interview with you,” Julia says, officiously, pointing at me. “Then we’ve got some work to do,” she adds, nodding at her staff. “Let’s get this plane in the air.”
On her relationship…
People are always speculating about Tim, but I think it’s too much pressure for one man. It’s not that I have anything against the institution of marriage, it’s just the accumulation of a set of life choices that has led me to this point.”
And if Tim was to ask you to marry him? “I think that I would have to have that conversation with Tim first.”
So are you ruling out a wedding in The Lodge? “I’m not going to rule anything in or out, but I would say that any discussion about marriage would be about me and Tim, not about The Lodge, or being prime minister or elections or government, or any of those things.”
So would you live together in The Lodge as Australia’s first female, unmarried prime minister and her boyfriend? “Well, Tim and I are de-facto partners, so, yes, if I’m elected, then I would move to The Lodge and Tim would come with me. He lives in my home in Altona. So our home is together.”
And how do you think that would play in the electorate? “I really don’t think people would much care. I’m not preaching my life choices as a model for other people. It’s my life, I made my choices, I don’t regret my choices nor am I urging anybody to mimic them.”
Keen observers of “La Gillardine”, as ABC political commentator Annabel Crabb has dubbed her, will recognise the take-me-as-I-am persona that Julia has honed throughout her time in the political spotlight. She’s unapologetic about who she is, where she’s gotten to and the life experiences she’s had along the way.
“I have been asked before if I have tried marijuana and the answer to that is yes,” she says matter-of-factly. “In university, we would go out to the pub and perhaps drink more than we should have on occasions. But that would be the limit of it.”
What she thinks…
… on late-term abortion “It’s not the business of politicians to make sweeping statements on issues like these. People have to confront all sorts of different circumstances – profound disability, for example. For me, it’s about letting an individual make that decision with her family. It’s not my place to preach. I’m generally in favour of allowing women to make decisions and not having politicians make them for them.”
… on God
“I am not going to pretend a faith I don’t feel. For people of faith, I think the greatest compliment I could pay to them is to respect their genuinely held beliefs and not to engage in some pretence about mine.”
Your say: How important is a Prime Minister’s personal life? Do you think it has any impact on their ability to do the job? Share with us below.
Read more of this story in the August issue of The Australian Women’s Weekly.
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