‘A Rose for the Anzac Boys’ is an extraordinarily well researched book by Jackie French about the experience of World War I from the viewpoint of three young teenage girls.  Midge Macpherson is a 16 year old New Zealander studying at an exclusive private school in England, when she becomes friends with two English girls, Ethel and Anne.  They are mildly engaged in the war effort at the school, rolling bandages, but things become more urgent when Midge’s twin, Tim, is listed as “missing” from the Gallipoli campaign.

The three girls are desperate to give more practical help to the men fighting on the Western Front.   They decide they can organise a canteen providing tea, soup and sandwiches for the soldiers returning from the front.  This catapults the girls into the shocking experience of seeing the horrific war wounds, and even more difficult to deal with, the mental effects of war trauma, on the young soldiers.  The girls often work almost 24 hour shifts, catching a few hours sleep here and there, as they try to bring a little warmth and humanity into the traumatised men’s lives.

Things become even more perilous for Midge, as she is co-opted into the ambulance service, transporting men directly from the front to the make-shift medical tents. She dodges shells as she struggles to manipulate the heavy gears of the ambulance truck.  She is also called on to prep the men for surgery, and has to deal with sights, sounds and smells she finds it hard to comprehend.  Here again, Midge and the other assistants and nurses bring hope and light into a very dark world.

Jackie French tells this story compellingly.  The book never drags, and the characters are well realised.  ‘A Rose for the Anzac Boys’ is bookended by more modern sections, which fill in the story of the generations to follow some of the protagonists.  The final section, set in 2007 is a poignant reminder that the women who helped in World War I, the “roses”, will never be forgotten.

Jackie French’s thorough research is seen not only in the story telling of this book, but in all the historical notes at the end of ‘A Rose for the Anzac Boys’.  It also would not be a genuine ‘Jackie French’ without the obligatory recipe, which in this case is one for “Soldier’s biscuits”.

This book has been written with passion, and it is clear it is a topic dear to the author’s heart.  It is a helpful balance to all the books written from the perspective of the men involved in “the war to end all wars”.  Highly recommended.

Jane Crew

‘Lamplighter’ is the sequel to the first book in the Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy. ‘Foundling’, the first book, introduced the reader to the highly original world of the Half-Continent, where there reigns a continual battle for supremacy between monsters and humans. Monsters are seen as an evil scourge and to be killed as quickly as possible. Those who are experts in killing have the monster’s blood they killed tattooed into their skin.

Our hero is called Rossamund, an unfortunate name, which he has to carry along with a lonely and difficult life as an apprentice lamplighter. Lamplighters have an important job, going out each day to light the roads so they are safe to travel. In this second book the Half-Continent is becoming even more dangerous, with monster attacks on the rise. Far flung and remote villages are in severe danger of being overrun.

‘Lamplighter’ begins two months into Rossamund’s apprenticeship with the lamplighters of Winstermill. He develops a friendship with a “Wit”, a girl who has mind talents to hurt monsters, but her powers are barely controlled. Threnody has come from an upper class background and is haughty and arrogant. However, she wants to go against her parent’s wishes and become a lamplighter. Threnody and Rossamund become reluctant allies against the monsters. While at Winstermill, Rossamund becomes aware that there is something sinister going on. He investigates this but is not believed and for punishment Rossamund and Threnody are banished to a distant “Cothouse”. This is a savage and frightening place on the very fringes of civilisation. Monsters are visible from time to time from the top of the Cothouse’s tower.

Disaster strikes one day when Threnody and Rossamund are out on routine duties. They return to the Cothouse to find that there is a full-scale monster attack going on and all of their lighter friends are horribly massacred.

During all of this second part of the series, Rossamund is becoming aware that he is rather different to those around him. Unlike others, he finds he can’t hate the monsters, in fact he feels sympathy for their difficult lives. His enemies see this in him also and he is called in to stand trial for allegedly collaborating with monsters. Was he really partly responsible for the massacre at the Cothouse? As Rossamund tries to defend himself some shocking revelations are made.

D.M. Cornish has created a unique world in the Half-Continent. It is stunning in scope and rich in imagination. It has its own language, somewhat Dickensian, and its own science and technology. The illustrations are vivid brilliant black and white drawings and bear witness to the skills of the author who completed a Bachelor of Design, majoring in Illustration. The book also has extensive glossaries, maps and charts at the end of the book, called an “Explicarium”.

This sequel is one of the rare ones that is even better than the first book. The characterisations have greater depth, and moral issues – especially the ones about what it is to be truly human – are examined in a complex way. This book is highly recommended to those that love a good fantasy book, but it is far more than simply a well plotted narrative. Although it is directed to the young adult, adult readers will find many pleasures in it’. – Jane Crew

Previously, Marchetta has been famous for her realistic fiction such as ‘Looking for Alibrandi’ and ‘Saving Francesca’. However, this time she is writing in the fantasy genre, with an authority and creative breadth that shows she is master of this genre also.

‘Finnikin of the Rock’ is epic in its scope, with action, romance and complex characters, and a well visualised sub-creation of the land of Lumatere and its surrounding kingdoms.We find out at the opening of the book that our hero, Finnikin has been warned by the gods that he must sacrifice a pound of flesh in order to save the royal house of Lumatere, his homeland. Together with his childhood friend, Prince Balthazar, and the Prince’s cousin, Lucian, they mix their blood to ensure the safety of Lumatere.

All continues in peace until the five days of “The Unspeakable”. During this dark time, the entire royal family are massacred in the palace. An imposter king takes the throne and a curse is placed on the land of Lumatere. This curse traps those inside the land and forces those outside to become exiles, living in refugee camps all over the surrounding kingdoms.

Finnikin and his mentor, Sir Topher, the King’s First Man, are part of the diaspora, or displaced people, kept out of their homeland. Finnikin and Sir Topher take it upon themselves to visit all the refugee camps, recording the dead and negotiating for their people’s welfare with foreign courts.

The future seems hopeless when Finnikin receives a summons to the temple of The Goddess of Lagrami for a meeting with the head priestess. They are introduced to a strange young novice called Evanjelin. She claims to “walk the sleep” of the heir to Lumatere and others trapped inside Lumatere. She proclaims that the heir to the throne lives, and the rest of the book is the journey back to Lumatere, leading all of the scattered peoples home.

Evanjelin is the most fascinating character in this book. She is complex, mysterious, arrogant and contradictory. Finnikin is both attracted and repelled by her, and at times feels totally betrayed by her. The relationship between Finnikin and Evanjelin is central to this book. It becomes clear that ‘Finnikin of the Rock’ is a character-driven fantasy; setting and action are subservient to this. For this reason readers who don’t usually like fantasy may well be attracted to this book.

One of the unique features of ‘Finnikin of the Rock’ as a fantasy is its themes of diaspora and dislocation of peoples. Marchetta is from an immigrant family and often writes about the struggles of the immigrant to integrate into a society which is culturally different from their own. In this book, she vividly portrays the struggles of the Lumatere people as they live in refugee camps, poverty stricken and losing hope. She points out how hard it is to communicate with the people around you when you don’t have their language, or when you realise your own language and culture is being lost forever.

Marchetta’s brilliant characterisations and imagination, along with her interest in the struggles of the immigrant, make ‘Finnikin of the Rock’ a very special fantasy novel. Highly recommended for young adults, and all readers of fantasy. – Jane Crew