The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson

 

First Lines: 17 October 1945. Maisie Shipley put down her copy of The Daily News and gazed out her kitchen window, momentarily taken an ocean away, to the jungles of Sumatra, and to a beach on a small tropical island.

 

In 1941, country girls Minnie Hodgson and Margot McNee board a ship in Perth, Australia, and sail to Singapore, keen to experience a life of adventure and excitement as nurses doing their bit during wartime.

When the Japanese attack and Singapore falls, they board the Vyner Brooke to escape. The ship is bombed and sinks. In the mayhem, Minnie, Margot, and the friends they've made are separated. One group finds themselves in prisoner-of-war camps for the duration, while the other washes ashore on Bangka Island to meet a fate that should never be forgotten.

~

The War Nurses, inspired by the author's own family history, is a sensitively-written story of friendship, courage, and endurance. It is based on the true events of the Bangka Island Massacre, and not only does it have the power to inform and inspire, but it can also break your heart. I've read non-fiction accounts of the things nurses were forced to endure in Southeast Asia during World War II, and Hodgson's novel ranks right up there with them. 

The author's notes and acknowledgments at the end of the book let readers know important facts and how she pieced together the story. The mind boggles at what these women were forced to endure and at how they managed to use their wits and courage to survive in unbelievable circumstances. (One of the things that made the nurses' situation even worse was that they were not considered to be prisoners of war. They were merely "internees" and not given any of the paltry "extras" prisoners of war were allowed. This really put their creativity to the test.)

As sad and horrifying as The War Nurses could be, I also found it heartwarming to read how important and life-affirming friendship was to these women, and what they would do to endure, to live to tell others of what really happened.

 

The War Nurses by Anthea Hodgson

eISBN: 9780143779117

Michael Joseph © 2023

eBook, 401 pages

 

Historical Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

The Forgotten Highlander by Alistair Urquhart

First Line: As one of the last survivors of my battalion of the Gordon Highlanders, the majority of whom were either killed or captured by the Japanese Imperial Army in Singapore, I know that I am a lucky man.

The life of World War II veteran Alistair Urquhart almost beggars belief. As a hard-working young man with a bright future ahead of him in Aberdeen, Scotland, Alistair is drafted into the Gordon Highlanders and shipped with his fellow soldiers to Singapore.

Urquhart, along with so many of his fellows, is captured when the Japanese overrun Singapore, and they all are packed into boxcars and shipped to work on the Death Railway between Thailand and Burma. Tens of thousands of natives and POWs died in its construction, but Urquhart managed to survive. He was then crammed aboard a Japanese hell ship that was torpedoed by an American submarine. After five days, Urquhart was picked up by Japanese fishermen and taken to another work camp at Omuta. Two months later he was ten miles away from Ground Zero when the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. In August of 1945 he was freed by the U.S. Navy. 

When I first read the synopsis of this book, two thoughts ran through my mind. (1) Alistair Urquhart went through even more than Louis Zamperini, an American POW made famous by Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken. (2) A line from an old television variety show-- "If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all." What an incredible will that man must have!

Although the quality of writing isn't nearly as high as Hillenbrand's in Unbroken, I enjoyed this book more. It has everything to do with Urquhart's voice. In The Forgotten Highlander, you get it direct, unfiltered by someone else. His rage, though well-tempered from the passage of years, comes through loud and clear, and it's not just directed at the Japanese. This man is a Scot, and Scots are known for treating everyone as though they're standing on a level playing field. He had no use for the prejudice and colonialism he found in Singapore, and he found things so badly run that he was surprised that the Japanese hadn't taken over long ago. He also points the finger at himself. He was far from being all sweetness and light during his years as a POW, and when his behavior was detrimental to himself and others, he lets us know about it. His honesty brings this story to an even higher level.

This man was forced to endure a hell that you and I can't even begin to imagine. What Urquhart finds completely unacceptable is that young Japanese know very little about how their own country conducted itself in World War II. Those growing up in Germany know their true history, and Urquhart believes Japanese children should, too. (I'll rework Santayana a bit to say "Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.")

The Forgotten Highlander is ugly. It's brutal. Above all, it's honest. It even has flashes of humor-- and it's stories like these that are vital in our understanding of World War II. Alistair Urquhart is an incredible man, and I am fortunate to have read his story. 

The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific 

by Alistair Urquhart

eISBN: 9781616081522

Skyhorse Publishing © 2010

eBook, 312 pages

Non-Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Amazon 

Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder by Shamini Flint

Title: Inspector Singh Investigates: A Most Peculiar Malaysian Murder
Author: Shamini Flint
ISBN: 9780312596972
Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2010
Hardcover, 304 pages
Genre: Police Procedural, #1 Inspector Singh
Rating:  A+
Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.

First Line: The accused, Chelsea Liew, was in court.

Portly Inspector Singh is at the top of the Singapore Police's "early retirement" wish list. It seems that Singh is notoriously difficult to deal with, and they just want to wash their hands of him. So when former Singapore resident and top model Chelsea Liew is accused of murdering her husband, his superiors see this as an excellent opportunity to be Singh-free for a while.

In no time at all, Inspector Singh finds himself in Kuala Lumpur complete with an "aide", Sergeant Shukor of the Malaysian police. Singh didn't just fall off the turnip truck that morning-- he knows that Shukor is following his every step not to help, but to spy. Be that as it may, Singh relishes his relative freedom and begins to track down all the "players".

Chelsea Liew was in the midst of a divorce from her wealthy husband, Alan Lee. The most heated part of the proceedings concerned custody of their children. Without warning, Lee informed everyone that he had converted to Islam and declared his children Muslim so only the religious courts had jurisdiction over custody. When she heard this, Chelsea threatened to kill Alan, so when he was found shot to death soon afterward, the police focused on her and no one else. Inspector Singh talks to many people and begins putting pieces of information together. He knows the answer is not a simple "Chelsea did it."

I have to admit that author Shamini Flint had me in the palm of her hand by page 8 of this book when two self-important men are fighting for a better place in line at the airport:

"You heard me, get in line here."
"Behind all these people?"
"Yup."
"You can't do that!" It was the Chinese man.
"I've just done it..."
"I'll have your badge for this!" he stammered angrily.
Singh grinned, suddenly happy. He said, "There's a long queue for that too!"

It's probably got something to do with the fact that I had obnoxious souls in my face trying to intimidate me by threatening to write to my superiors to have me fired. My normal response was to spell my name very carefully to avoid confusion. But to get back to this marvelous book....

Flint seemed to treat each one of her characters with extraordinary care-- even the obnoxious ones. It didn't take long for me to feel as though I'd known everyone in the book for years. Kuala Lumpur is described so well that I feel as though I'd actually been there, and Flint adds just enough information on current events to make the place come to life.

Wonderful characters in a fully realized setting-- and a plot with surprises all along the way. I thoroughly enjoyed Inspector Singh and his visit to Malaysia. I can't wait to get my hands on his other adventures! (I also have a feeling that I know why his superiors want him to retire: he follows the spirit of the law even better than he follows the letter of the law.)

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