A Postcard from Australia featuring The Ship of Brides by Jojo Moyes

Ok! I make no apologies for the fact that one of the books I read in Australia was by Jojo Moyes . . . I was on holiday and I love her books!
Here is the Radiance of the Seas setting sail from Sydney Harbour on a sunny February evening. Contrast this with the departure of the HMS Victoria, an aircraft carrier, leaving Sydney on a grey July day in 1946, transporting 650 Australian wives to Plymouth to reunite them with their British servicemen husbands. Sydney Harbour Bridge, built in 1932 would have been there, but obviously not Sydney Opera House, which was opened in 1973. However, the buildings in the area known as The Rocks in the foreground would have existed, but as a rundown, former slum area which used to be frequented by sailors and prostitutes and was, at that time, in danger of being demolished. However, today, The Rocks has been saved and forms a popular tourist area with pubs, restaurants and cafés.
It's the second time that I've read The Ship of Brides, the first time was several years ago and in fact I'd lent it to someone for their trip to Australia and never got it back!
The story focuses on four brides: Margaret, pregnant with her husband, Joe's, baby; the Melbourne socialite, Avice, dismayed at having to travel on an aircraft carrier; naïve Jean, barely sixteen-year-old, and Frances, a nurse who has served in the South Pacific. Other characters whose stories are also told are Captain Highfield on his last voyage before retirement, and the Marine who is posted outside the girls' cabin every night to keep them safe from the other sailors.

Jojo has been very thorough, as always, with her research, describing life on the aircraft carrier and the alterations which had to be made to allow the brides to live on it for six weeks. This forms the setting to reveal the story behind each girl, how they change on the journey and what happens on their arrival at Plymouth - if they make it there.
A nice touch at the beginning is the description of one of the girls, now a lady of advanced years, witnessing the dismantling of the aircraft carrier in an Indian scrapyard. It is not until the final chapter that we find out who she is.
I can recommend this book for being alternately heart warming and heart wrenching, whether you read it in Australia or at home.

To celebrate the May Day Bank Holiday weekend, whether it rains or shines, I'm offering a FREE DOWNLOAD of my book of Twelve Super Summer Stories,  Postcards and Suntan Cream from 8am Friday, 3rd May 2013 to 8am Tuesday 7th May 2013, British Summer Time. Just click on the book cover at the top of the page!

I have just had to sit down and finish Secrets of the Tides by Hannah Richell

Writing experts are always telling us to write about what we know, and Hannah Richell has done just that in her compelling  first novel, Secrets of the Tides which is set in her beloved Dorset where she spent many childhood holidays with her family. This is quite poignant as she now lives in Sydney, and it's a long way to come back to visit her favourite spot on the south coast!
That is as far as the familiar goes in this story about a family tragedy which takes place on the last day of the summer holidays and plunges the Tide's into ten years of of guilt and regret for the events of that day.
The plot follows Helen, the mother, and Cassie and Dora, her daughters, as they come to terms with the tragedy. This may sound a little heavy, but Hannah tells the story with such compassion, that you feel for each of them as the years go by.
Centre to it all is Clifftops, the house which belonged to Richard, the father's, parents which sets the scene for the story and acts as a background through the years, and the Dorset coastline which is described in much detail, and illustrated at the end of the book with the author's notes.
The only quibble that I have with the book is that it switches backwards and forwards through time, which made me feel a little dizzy until I was able to begin to build up the story, however, this method acts as a teaser to make you keep reading!
So all in all, I loved it and as I said in the title to this blog, I just had to sit down and finish it!
Have you read a book recently that has had that effect on you?