SuitabookA rose for the Anzac boys
Jackie French
- Reading
- Read alongside a pause before the hospital and battlefield sections, inviting the reader to discuss feelings without requiring details. Afterwards, compare the women’s visible work with the ways remembrance is framed at the beginning and end.
- Themes
- Women’s wartime contribution: Midge, Ethel and Anne establish a canteen, while women also drive ambulances and care for soldiers. The narrative gives sustained attention to practical support work often described as overlooked, but its full evaluative stance is not established.
- Changing ideas of courage: Midge initially seeks a more exciting role, then encounters repetitive canteen work, ambulance driving and battlefield consequences. The contrast presents adventure as more complicated than expected and places emphasis on difficult service, though the complete character arc is unknown.
- Memory and remembrance: The wartime narrative is framed by later ANZAC Day events, with letters connecting personal experience to people separated by time. The structure invites reflection on how wartime lives are remembered, but the book’s final judgement about remembrance is not established.
- Worth knowing
- War-related distress deserves attention: the story includes bereavement, wounded and dying soldiers, hospitals, battlefield consequences and graphic depictions of violence. Consider whether this level of detail suits the reader’s present circumstances.