A BEAUTIFUL LIE

by Irfan Master 


This story is set in India during 1947, before partition, when India was divided. Bilal is a young boy forced to care for his dying father who hates the idea of India being torn apart and longs for the traditions of India. Because of the strong love for his father, Bilal, decides to lie to his father and hide him from any information reaching him of the riots and killings going on in his town. This is not an easy thing to hide so he must ask his friends to help him and stop visitors to his father who may tell him the terrible troubles that are surrounding them.


I loved the idea Bilal had of taking 'memory photos' of life around him to remember his life. Snapshots like a camera would take. Bilal also found that once he had lied he had to keep telling lies to cover up the original lie, and he also found that lies became easier the more you told.


I didn't find this book particularly gripping but it did give an insight into life in India during this time and  the tension that existed during the lead up to partition and the loss of friendships once people were dispersed to other parts of India to survive.

BROKEN MEMORY

by Elisabeth Combres


This is an easy read, with short chapters, aimed at the younger reader but don't let that put you off. It packed a punch that's for sure. Although fiction, this story was based on real life stories and historical events during the Rwanda genocide, and the trauma the Tutsi people faced during this horrific event in 1994.


Emma is a 5 yr old Tutsi girl who hides in her house while she hears her mother being killed close by. She escapes and finds a Hutu women she befriends who looks after her and hides her from rebel soldiers for many years. Emma is devastated that she cannot remember her mother's face but can remember her last words 'You must not die'.


There are many heart breaking stories during this terrible time in history which left hundreds of thousands of people, especially children, misplaced, traumatised and memories that will torment them for many years, sometimes forever. The struggle to learn to heal memories and to trust again is necessary for survival.


A touching story told very simply... may we never forget the horror!

REMARKABLE CREATURES

by Tracy Chevalier


This book is different and had quite a different story line than I expected. It's the story of a wonderful friendship between two remarkable women, Mary Anning and Elizabeth Philpot, who were drawn together through their love of collecting fossils. Although the story is fiction is was based on the actual life of these two women,living in Lyme Regis during the 1820's. Mary, who was struck by lightning as a baby, had a real connection with nature and the sea. She would collect curios (fossils) from the beach and sell them in her father's shop to tourists who passed by. 


Mary certainly had an eye for detecting fossils and discovered some of the first pre-dinosaur  fossils in England, including the ichthyosaur and the plesiosaur.  However, this was a man's world and she didn't get any recognition for her discoveries or a scientist until later on in years.


Although 'fossils' to me seems like a slightly boring subject the story was a wonderful blend of scientific fact, myths, customs, romance along with a story of friendship thrown in. It challenged the thinking of the time of evolution and where fossils fit into the scheme of God's creation.


I did enjoy this book as I did with another of Tracy's books I recently read 'The Girl with the Pearl Earring'.

LES DARCY

by Peter Fitzsimons

This is a wonderful biography of an Australian boxing icon named Les Darcy. I must admit I hadn't heard of him prior to reading this book, but after mentioning this book to friends, it seems that most had heard of him. He was a wonderful young man who was a natural boxer but also a descent fellow and hard worker, and loved by nearly everyone who met him. He worked hard to provide for his family. With a family of 10 children, one handicapped and a father who was usually drunk, Les tried to lessen the burden for his loved mum. He was strong and handsome with a charming smile. Deeply religious, this stemming from his rich Irish Catholic ancestory, he never missed going to Sunday Mass and was very close to his local priest.

Les earned his icon status by working his way up the rung of the boxing community fighting the biggest and meanest they could throw at him and became a lightweight and heavyweight champion. He wanted to set his family up with a nice home and enough money to keep them well and tried desperately to travel to the USA to compete with their champion boxers and win some big bucks. Unfortunately, the war had started and men were signing up to go to Galipoli and fight with the Allies. He was still underage and needed his mother to sign a conscent form but she refused. This led some members of the community to send him white feathers in the mail and call him a coward for not going with their sons to fight. 

Les just wanted a couple more fights to prove himself and earn his money then he was prepared to enlist. The government refused a passport for Les on three separate occasions which frustrated him and he eventually, with the help of a friend, stowed away on a ship going to America. They all knew of him there and soon fell in love with him and soon there were matches schedule, however time after time he was refused permission to fight due to his ex-manager in Australia who had connections high in the government.

This story was told in a wonderful way with great insight, with lots of historical documentation and at times a sense of humour with Peter Fitzsimons filling the story with lots of 'aussieisms'. Although I'm really, really, not into boxing I did find this story gripping and very sad in the end. It was interesting how quickly people turned from adoring this brilliant sportsman, to ridiculing him and calling him a traitor, and then after his death, to adoring him again. I wonder how Les' story would've changed if he was born a little later in the century, after the war.