Annie’s Day
It’s 2003 in an English village. As elderly Annie prepares for a visit from her family, she’s dismayed by news of another war in Iraq. In a nostalgic mood, she remembers her Australian homeland and why she had to leave it.
Against her irascible father’s wishes, Annie signs up as a military nurse. Initially posted to Singapore in 1941, her time there is brief as the Japanese encroach, and she manages to escape capture. Her next posting is to New Guinea, a tropical hell where more soldiers die from scrub typhus, dysentery and dengue fever than from battle wounds. Annie forms strong relationships with her patients and nursing companions and has a brief affair with a doctor, Bill. After the war ends, she decides that Australia no longer feels like home and takes up a position as a nanny in Berlin where she faces a different kind of war as the Soviets tighten their grip on the beleaguered city. Later, she finds a second love with David, a former military chaplain.
In spite of tragedies and challenges, Annie remains a forthright, open-hearted and optimistic woman who enjoys life. Being agnostic, her role as a vicar’s wife has its issues, but she finds balance in David’s compassion and commitment to do what is right. He explains that he decided to enter the church when, in the 1930s, he saw the world falling into “brutishness” and “fair play, civility and morality… seemed to be disappearing”. When war inevitably came, he was determined to comfort others.
The historical research into lesser-known aspects of World War II is excellent, and the well-crafted dialogue accurately conveys the aspirations, hopes and values of that wartime generation. Inspired in part by the author’s mother’s story, this beautifully emotive and positive novel is highly recommended.
