The War Nurses in Aussie Readers

Apr 04, 2023 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: reviewing-by-request, 3500-2023, aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, 2023-release, own-read, arc, historical-fiction

It was 1942 when Minnie Hodgson, Margot McNee and many more young women joined the Queen Mary, leaving Australia to sail into the unknown, all for the war effort. They were Australian nurses and their eventual destination was Singapore. Immediate friendships were formed and Minnie, Margot, Beth and Lola were the core group of strength, courage and determination who were looked up to by the others. But when danger was too close to ignore, evacuation was necessary and urgent. Minnie, Margot and he It was 1942 when Minnie Hodgson, Margot McNee and many more young women joined the Queen Mary, leaving Australia to sail into the unknown, all for the war effort. They were Australian nurses and their eventual destination was Singapore. Immediate friendships were formed and Minnie, Margot, Beth and Lola were the core group of strength, courage and determination who were looked up to by the others. But when danger was too close to ignore, evacuation was necessary and urgent. Minnie, Margot and her group were put on the Vyner Brooke with a captain who had sailed the same waters many times and was sure he could get them all to safety. But, close to the islands they'd headed for, the Vyner Brooke was bombed and while a good number made it to the lifeboats, many didn't.

Minnie and Margot were separated as the lifeboats and rafts they'd fashioned were washed to shore. Margot, Beth and Lola surrendered to the Japanese, destined to spend the last years of the war in camps, where starvation, malaria, beriberi, dysentery and more were rife. The cruelty of the Japs was second to none, and when friends died, the women dug the graves. But what would happen to Minnie and the other brave nurses who'd drifted away from their friends? Would they meet again after the war?

The War Nurses is an absolutely phenomenal read! Aussie author Anthea Hodgson has based her story on fact, one character an ancestor of her family. (view spoiler) The four MCs are fictional but many of the events portrayed are factual, and the Author Note at the end is interesting, heart breaking and poignant. I have to say this is the best historical fiction novel set in this time period with the Japs, that I have read - and I have no hesitation in recommending it highly. I certainly won't forget it in a hurry!

With thanks to Penguin Random House AU for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review. ...more

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Apr 01, 2023 Helen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: review-copy-from-publisher

This was one of the most emotional books I have read for a while, it is heartbreaking, moving and so much more, but told so beautifully with compassion and such love as Anthea Hodgson takes us back in time to an unforgettable story about our Australian nurses during WW2 a story that is inspired by her own great aunt, Minnie Hodgson, I do advise that you have a box of tissues handy.

It is 1942 and country nurses from Western Australia Minnie Hodgson and Margot McNee board a ship bound for Singapor This was one of the most emotional books I have read for a while, it is heartbreaking, moving and so much more, but told so beautifully with compassion and such love as Anthea Hodgson takes us back in time to an unforgettable story about our Australian nurses during WW2 a story that is inspired by her own great aunt, Minnie Hodgson, I do advise that you have a box of tissues handy.

It is 1942 and country nurses from Western Australia Minnie Hodgson and Margot McNee board a ship bound for Singapore, they are looking at adventure and are proud to be doing their part in the war, they meet many other nurses and make life time friends, but soon Singapore is under siege and they need to evacuate.

They board the Vyner Brooke and continue to work hard looking after the injured soldiers and the many other people who are on board, woman and children from many different countries but they are bombed by the Japanese, there is such devastation, survivors floating on rafts and in life boats doing their best to get to one of the islands, separated one group of nurses find themselves on Bangka Island, what happens here, the fate of these nurses is atrocious, so shocking that is must never be forgotten.

The other group of nurses find themselves in a prisioner-war-camps till the end of the war, here these strong determined and courageous woman do everything they can to survive in the worst possible conditions with cruel captors, no food no medical help, just their fortitude and grit and the friendship and love they share with each other. The resilience and grit from these woman had me cheering them on through my tears.

Getting to know Margot, Beth, Lola, Minnie and the other nurses will stay with me for a long time to come, this story is compelling and poignant, with fabulous characters and it is an unforgettable story based on true facts and pays tribute to these nurses who should never be forgotten. It shows true friendship and how it can sustain people in such hard time.

I loved this book from start to finish, I cried so much and I cheered them on and I smiled at the humour and wit that they could still show through it all, many thanks Anthea Hodgson for such a beautiful story that is told so well.

My thanks to Penguin AU for my copy to read and review.
...more

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Apr 22, 2023 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it it was amazing

Shelves: provided-by-publisher, arc-are

Inspired by the experiences of Australian nurses, including the author’s great aunt, in Singapore during WWII, The War Nurses is a remarkable and moving story of courage, tragedy and friendship from Anthea Hodgson.

It’s 1941 when the Queen Mary sets sail carrying members of Australia’s armed forces overseas. Among them are volunteer enlisted nurses Margot, Beth, Lola, and Minnie, bunk mates who become friends on their journey. Stationed in Singapore, the women tend to the allied forces, proud to Inspired by the experiences of Australian nurses, including the author’s great aunt, in Singapore during WWII, The War Nurses is a remarkable and moving story of courage, tragedy and friendship from Anthea Hodgson.

It’s 1941 when the Queen Mary sets sail carrying members of Australia’s armed forces overseas. Among them are volunteer enlisted nurses Margot, Beth, Lola, and Minnie, bunk mates who become friends on their journey. Stationed in Singapore, the women tend to the allied forces, proud to be of service, but they are forced to flee when the Japanese invade the island barely a year later. Herded onto the Vyner Brooke along with 60 other Australian nurses, over a hundred injured soldiers and dozens of expat evacuees, mostly women and children, the ship attempts an escape only to be strafed with bombs in the Bangka Strait.

The fate of Hodgson’s four heroines, and their fellow survivors, illuminate those of their real-life counterparts. Around 150 people survived the sinking of the ship and made their way to the closest shore clinging to rafts and debris. Tragically around fifty met their death on Radji Beach, among them 22 Australian nurses, at the hands of a party of Japanese soldiers, except for one lucky escapee. The rest of the survivors were captured, separated by gender, and then interned in camps until the war ended in 1945. Not all lived to be released.

I was already broadly familiar with the events on Bangka Island but the perspectives of the author’s characters create a sense of immersion in the ordeal. Written with genuine respect, compassion and empathy for the people on whom Hodgson’s characters are based, Margot, Beth, Lola, and Minnie are fully realised amalgamations. Hodgson relates how they endure their bleak circumstances with dignity, loyalty, wit, resourcefulness and determination.

As Hodgson later notes, many of the incidents in the story that seem unbelievable or exaggerated, are actually true. It’s a harrowing tale that brought me to tears more than once. That anyone survived, not just physically, seems almost a miracle. Yet the horror is tempered by warm and inspiring moments of friendship and support, small rebellions, and even a touch of romance.

A compelling novel, The War Nurses is a heartfelt and deserved tribute to the 65 members of the Australian Army Nursing Service who died and survived the sinking of Vyner Brooke. ...more

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Apr 11, 2023 Bree T rated it it was amazing

Shelves: australian, arc, historical-fiction, world-war-ii

Oh my Goodness, what a story. Make sure you have tissues when reading this one.

I say this all the time, but I have poor historical knowledge. I think schooling in Australia is really inadequate at teaching history and most of what I’ve learned (that wasn’t James Cook “discovering” Australia) I’ve taught myself as an adult, through reading books based on real events and researching after that. And this is not an exception – I hadn’t even heard of the Bangka Island Massacre before hearing about th Oh my Goodness, what a story. Make sure you have tissues when reading this one.

I say this all the time, but I have poor historical knowledge. I think schooling in Australia is really inadequate at teaching history and most of what I’ve learned (that wasn’t James Cook “discovering” Australia) I’ve taught myself as an adult, through reading books based on real events and researching after that. And this is not an exception – I hadn’t even heard of the Bangka Island Massacre before hearing about this book and that’s a travesty because everyone should know about this. There was a lot of secrecy and people being forbidden to tell their story (some of which was by the Australian Government) which I found sad and insulting to the people that lived through it and their families.

The War Nurses takes place in the thick of World War II – Australian nurses Minnie, Margot, Beth, Lola and others are sent to Singapore to nurse the troops fighting in the Pacific. Although the conditions are at times, a bit challenging – the approaching Japanese, the oppressive heat, the struggle for medical supplies, the long shifts – the women build a camaraderie and make the best of their situation, caring for the men that get brought into them. At first it’s mostly minor injuries before it escalates. They are able to socialise and enjoy themselves. They are moved several times and then retreat back to Singapore before being finally given the order to evacuate, back to Australia in various boats. However those who draw the straw of being aboard the Vyner Brooke are relentlessly bombed by Japanese aircraft in the South China Sea. The people on board were a mix of injured soldiers, the nurses who had been caring for them and civilians from Singapore who were being forced to leave. The boat is sunk and the survivors are forced to paddle, swim and float for their lives towards the small island of Bangka. A Dutch colony, it has also been taken by the Japanese who need resources to fuel their war. The group of survivors wash up in various locations, some of them band back together, others are separated by greater distance.

What happens next is heartbreaking in various different ways. A portion of the survivors endure an internment camp for years along with Dutch residents of the island, who have also been rounded up, and the conditions make Singapore seem like the height of indulgent luxury. The nurses, who we focus on, are fighting a constantly losing battle of trying to nurse sick people with nothing in the way of medical supplies at all and very little food. They are basically starving, existing on the most absolute meagre portion of rations that would keep a person alive (and for some, not even that). Disease is rife – it is difficult to be able to maintain the proper hygiene practices and illnesses like dysentery and beriberi tear through the camps. Despite begging to be seen as legitimate prisoners of war, which would afford them certain conditions, the Japanese refuse and see them only as internees and no one seems at all concerned about the Geneva Convention and its requirements.

Every so often they are forced to move camps, which means packing everything they have (not much) and travelling either by boat of by foot, often for significant distances. Some people literally just die along the way, so malnourished that they cannot make it. There are things in the latter half of the book that are really distressing to read but at the same time, the strong friendship and the resilience of the women shine through, even as they are facing the absolute worst happening around them. They have lost some of their friends, they are watching more and more die as time goes by, there is such helplessness as they cannot do their jobs but they still manage to keep strong and keep going. It was sometimes as heartwarming, reading about the strength of their connections, as it was heartbreaking reading about the horrific conditions and the dehumanising of the nurses and civilians who had been taken into the internment camps. And it isn’t at all limited to this particular area in this particular time either. Dehumanising is a constant in war, ‘othering’ in a way that allows self-justification of heinous acts.

I would encourage anyone who doesn’t know much (or anything!) about this to definitely read up on it, particularly the survival account of Vivian Bullwinkel, an Australian nurse who does appear briefly in this book. More research and investigation has been done in recent times to shine more of a light on this incident, to make sure that some of these stories have been told. The Authors Note included here also asserts that almost everything that happened in this book is true – Anthea Hodgson’s great-aunt, Minnie Hodgson, lost her life during this war on Bangka Island and she is commemorated here as a main character in fictionalised form.

A brilliant book, written to showcase friendship and spirit and you can see how much love, care and respect was poured into it. ...more

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Aug 06, 2023 Tien rated it really liked it

Shelves: for-review, historical-fiction, australian-author, womens-lit

"... it isn't enough to tell you the story; my job is to make you care." ~ Anthea Hodgson

The novel opens and suddenly, there are a myriad of characters and I have to admit that I struggled to identify who's who. And then to have the 2 perspectives with names starting with M, I struggled pointing out who's who until certain events occurred and it made such distinction for me. I don't know if anyone else struggled; this could just be a me thing...

Ever since I watched Paradise Road, I've been inter ...more

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May 26, 2023 Catsalive rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2023, aww

A harrowing tale of death, brutality, cruelty, barbarism, love, courage, strength, friendship & loyalty. The more outrageous the events the more likely true. I wonder that any survived, but they did, & I'm glad these wonderful women have been remembered & honoured in the last few years. Some of the events are familiar from earlier readings & I recognised some from the 1997 film "Paradise Road", but it all feels very personal here: stirring, horrifying & uplifting.

I got through it reasonably sto ...more

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