The Railwayman's Wife in Aussie Readers

Mar 04, 2013 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it liked it

Shelves: aussie-author, provided-by-publisher, arc-are

For over a week I have been trying to write a review of the Railwayman’s Wife but can’t seem to get past a few random notes and half formed sentences. Not even to re-articulate the plot except for a few basics. There is no reason for this to be so difficult, I liked The Railwayman’s Wife well enough, it’s a character driven novel, set post WW2 in a small coastal village in southern New South Wales, exploring the pain of grief and loss. A wife, Annika, loses a much loved husband to a tragic accid ...more

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Jan 28, 2014 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aussie-authors, contemporary-fiction, historical-fiction, 2013-release, library-bookclub-reads

Anikka, Isabel and Mac Lachlan were happy; their lives were peaceful, full of love and dreams to be fulfilled. The war was finally over, it had been for three years – but people were still grieving for those lost, and the survivors were slowly coming home. Roy McKinnon, a teacher before the war, arrived at his sister Iris’ home to try to continue his life. His teaching was over, he had no patience anymore, but the poetry he wrote before the war just wouldn’t come to him. Frank Draper was a docto Anikka, Isabel and Mac Lachlan were happy; their lives were peaceful, full of love and dreams to be fulfilled. The war was finally over, it had been for three years – but people were still grieving for those lost, and the survivors were slowly coming home. Roy McKinnon, a teacher before the war, arrived at his sister Iris’ home to try to continue his life. His teaching was over, he had no patience anymore, but the poetry he wrote before the war just wouldn’t come to him. Frank Draper was a doctor and decided to continue in Thirroul as he had “before”. They were bitter young men, but friends – they could lift each others spirits when needed.

Ani and Mac‘s love was all encompassing – they delighted in their daughter Isabel and the three of them enjoyed their outings to the beach, their picnics and excursions. When Isabel turned ten, her gift was a kaleidoscope; its magic was spellbounding to Isabel and the wonder and delight at this small gift was heartwarming. With Mac leaving before dawn to do his job on the train, Ani would listen to it groan and puff away from Thirroul, knowing it would bring him back later in the day – the distinctive sounds of the engine would alert her to his arrival once again.

But when tragedy struck, Ani thought her life would never be the same again. Trying to find solace in the books she read, her job in the railway’s library and Isabel she found herself drifting. Much the same as Roy and Frank. But slowly, over the weeks and months, Roy started to find his words; Frank began to feel a little less angry; and Anikka, well she and Isabel began to enjoy life once again. Slowly, slowly – a struggle for them all, but the light began to look brighter…

What an amazing book! Soft, quiet and melancholy; beautiful, lyrical and poetic. I don’t think I have ever read a book with such magical, deeply tender and illuminating words. So many sentences, phrases and paragraphs took my eye, but this one I particularly loved:

“A jacaranda tree transmogrified into something from the northern fairytales of her childhood” – P248

This book is one which just meanders through the lives of the people involved, but the nature of it is that it will keep you turning the pages until the end. I have no hesitation in highly recommending this wonderful novel which I thoroughly enjoyed.
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Mar 30, 2013 Bree T rated it liked it

Shelves: australian, arc, historical-fiction, aww2013

It is 1948 and the Second World War is not long over. Those that survived are still making their way home and the scars are still obvious. Anikka Lachlan has been married to Mac for over 10 years and they live in Thirroul, a town on the northern outskirts of Wollongong in New South Wales with their daughter Isabel. Mac drives the trains and their life revolves around the hiss and steam of the engines as they make their way to and from the city.

Then Mac is taken from her in a random event that ma It is 1948 and the Second World War is not long over. Those that survived are still making their way home and the scars are still obvious. Anikka Lachlan has been married to Mac for over 10 years and they live in Thirroul, a town on the northern outskirts of Wollongong in New South Wales with their daughter Isabel. Mac drives the trains and their life revolves around the hiss and steam of the engines as they make their way to and from the city.

Then Mac is taken from her in a random event that makes her question everything. He escaped the war, his job deemed necessary for him to stay at home so they could keep the transport lines open. For him to survive such a threat and then be killed in the way he did makes Anikka uncertain about everything. She is given a job in the Railway Library where the townsfolk of Thirroul come to check out their means of escapism - Kangaroo by D.H Lawrence, which was written when he was staying in Thirroul, Jane Eyre, and the works of various poets. It is the place where Anikka comes to life again, not only given a purpose but the way in which she can be useful to people, sourcing what they want and engaging them in conversation. Her life has changed from stay at home wife and mother to a woman that works, often leaving her daughter in the care of a close neighbour.

Anikka meets Roy McKinnon, a soldier who survived the war and published poetry. Now back in the beautiful Thirroul, Roy finds that the words he searches for just aren’t coming – until he meets Anikka. His shy offerings for the young widow offer up the hope of a new future but will Anikka feel the same?

There are some books that I just find very difficult to review. I sit and stare at my keyboard and the screen, look at Twitter, check my email for the three thousandth time, read a blog or two and come back to the review to find that still, I’ve only written 20 or 30 words. Sometimes the words just don’t come easily and The Railwayman’s Wife is one of these books. It’s not that I didn’t like it it’s just that I don’t know how to say how it made me feel without spoiling it.

This is a beautifully written book – it’s not a long one, coming in at just over 250p and author Ashley Hay has obviously valued every word. I don’t think I’ve ever been to Thirroul itself but my cousins and family live in close-by Woonona so I am at least familiar with the area, albeit in a more modern setting. The descriptions of what it’s like to take the train from the city, entering a dark tunnel and then bursting out to be confronted with the sea in all its glittering glory are wonderful and really put you in the novel. Likewise enough is given of Mac and Anikka’s easy relationship to paint a picture of their life – happiness by the seaside, blended with the smell and sound of trains. When Mac is lost in an accident, Anikka’s grief is not the sort that strips her of her ability to function – she still takes care of their daughter and begins a new job in order to support them – but it’s quite clear that she is deeply devastated by his loss and it colours most of her life.

She begins to interact with some locals as an individual now, rather than as one of a married pair and finds herself forming an easy friendship with Roy McKinnon, a local poet and a slightly less easy one with Dr. Frank Draper, a friend of Roy’s who stayed abroad after the war and has only just returned to Australia. Frank is haunted by what he saw after peace supposedly came as he was one of those sent into the concentration camps to begin attempting to heal the sufferers. He’s haunted by those who survived the whole war, only to die after he arrived and this makes him often blunt, confronting and unpleasant. Anikka seems to have a tolerance for him even though what he says does often bother her but she doesn’t avoid him or seek to end their interactions.

Roy soon develops feelings for Anikka although to the reader it never seems as though Anikka feels the same way (and here is where I struggle with what to say!). It’s hard sometimes, when you’re settled into a book expecting one ending and you’re delivered another, somewhat abruptly and I feel that’s what happened here with this book. It was a gentle, rolling read but yet when I finished it I felt quite flat and disappointed. Almost upset. The ending seems a little out of pace with the rest of the book too.

I think if this time period is of particular interest, or the setting or if you like trains (if you really like trains!) then this book will be very enjoyable and it might be easier to feel differently about the ending. But for me, quite often the ending is the part that makes everything come together, it’s the part that really underlines how I’ll feel about a particular book. And this one, I find it really hard to articulate that without getting into a very spoilerish discussion of the why. It’s also hard to rate this book – I wanted to only give it a 5 or a 6 but the writing is pretty fabulous so that pulls it up a bit ...more

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Dec 25, 2019 Kathryn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, recommended-by-people-on-gr, reading-list-2019, australian-authors

Not as good as A Hundred Small Lessons, also by Ashley Hay. This one felt more wordy and with less of a plot, more description. It felt a bit like literary fiction, which is never my favourite genre. An enjoyable enough read, but not something I would rave over. ...more

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Jul 20, 2015 Petra rated it really liked it

Lovely Australian read. Set in Thirroul and goes through the grief process.

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Mar 11, 2013 Tien rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, australia, australian-author, moving-mountains

I adore the first chapter as it sets the tone of this book. Slow as a small seaside town in the 30s-40s. The most important thing, of course, was that Annika Lachlan was reading… and I can feel myself being drawn into the story and looking through Annika’s point of view.

3 broken persons are seeking for healing, for themselves. Each of them had their own unique gut-wrenching heart-breaking experience and found themselves drawn to each other by the brokenness they sensed in each other. In the mids I adore the first chapter as it sets the tone of this book. Slow as a small seaside town in the 30s-40s. The most important thing, of course, was that Annika Lachlan was reading… and I can feel myself being drawn into the story and looking through Annika’s point of view.

3 broken persons are seeking for healing, for themselves. Each of them had their own unique gut-wrenching heart-breaking experience and found themselves drawn to each other by the brokenness they sensed in each other. In the midst of all the sadness, there are also beauty- of sweet memories of love from the past, of the beauty surrounding them, of rows of words interlinking. It renders a bittersweet overtone throughout the book which was surprisingly maintained from the beginning to the end and left me with a gasp.

Thirroul is described so beautifully that makes me want to visit! I’m only about an hour’s drive away but due to the descriptions of the book, I’d like to catch a train there. I catch the train 4 days in a week and am not a fan of cityrail. Most Sydneysiders aren’t. However, I now want to go to Thirroul on the train just to be in the footsteps of Annika and to experience the beauty… though since the book is set in the 40s, I doubt I’d feel the same…

The engine is puffing and blowing, pulling hard, and the train presses on towards the archway that’s been carved to open up the mountain… They’re in darkness, the sound monumental, the speed somehow faster when there’s only blackness beyond the windows. And then they’re out, in the light, in the space, in the relative quiet. And there’s the ocean, the sand, the beginnings of this tiny plain that has insinuated itself, tenuous, between the wet and the dry.

It is a reminder of the beauty all around us which we really shouldn’t take for granted for there are also much brokenness. But brokenness are a part of life which makes the beauty of it all more precious.

Thank you, Allen & Unwin and The Reading Room for a copy of Uncorrected Proof of which I truly enjoyed ...more

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Aug 15, 2016 Tianne Shaw rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Being from The Illawarra this wove more of how things are just the same in Thirroul. Take a family and a village post WW2 and what life unfolds to create

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