Sunday 19 October 2014

I am David by Anne Holm

I am David by Anne Holm, translated from the Danish by L.W. Kingsland (Puffin, 1969; first published in Denmark, 1963)

8 chapters; 153 pages

Subjects: Denmark, Italy, Eastern Europe, concentration camps, Cold War, dogs, fable, intermediate fiction (Year 6-8)


Synopsis
This entry might be a bit of a cheat, but it is included in all sincerity, even if under slightly false pretences. 

I am David made a strong impression on me when I read it as a child. It’s one of the many classic Puffin books discovered and published by their marvellous editor Kaye Webb.

Recently I re-read it in preparation for a workshop I was holding on Writing about war for children, and discovered that what I thought I knew about it was quite wrong. I thought it was a book about a Jewish boy escaping from a concentration camp in World War Two (a bit like The boy in the striped pyjamas, but with a happier ending.) Turns out that’s not true at all.

The clue is on pg 50 (in my edition). Because David has grown up in the camp, he has no idea about geography or anything else in the outside world, and he’s trying to work out which countries are safe. His definition of a safe country is one with a king or queen, and when he asks someone about England, the answer given is that “at the moment there was a queen because the last king had had no sons, only daughters.” So the book must be set after 1953 (when Queen Elizabeth came to the throne) and it’s an Eastern Europe / Cold War / Communism story, not a World War Two story at all.

Or is it? This article points out that David is 12 in the story, so it's possible that he could have been born during World War Two. 

There are some unlikely coincidences in the plot, especially towards the end, but I think this ambiguity is partly why it has stayed in my memory. It is quite a haunting book.

The book cover above is my own copy, but there are a number of other editions with different covers.

    

Reviews:
This review on The bookbag calls David "an introspective, deep child" who "observes constantly and learns quickly and ... has his own, strong sense of what is right and what is wrong." 

Another review on Reading matters comments that “the book is not set in a real time or place. Although the circumstances seem real enough, David's background is a synthesis of all the terrible persecution that happened during the Second World War and the subsequent years of cold war communism. This helps to make David a very powerful and pure figure. I don't think he is particularly real. Anne Holm uses him as a blank canvas on which can be drawn the first experiences of life - beauty, knowledge, trust, religion, love, everything.”

It’s a classic, there are masses of reviews and reading guides online. Don’t get bogged down in them. Just read the book for yourself.

About the author
For such a famous book, I couldn’t find much info on the author.

According to this obituary in the Independent, Anne Lise Elfe was born in Aal, Jutland, on 10 September 1922. She married Johan Holm in 1949 and they had one son. She died on 27 December 1998. 

The writer of the obituary describes the book as "a landmark in bringing to children's attention the existence of a world of political evil and the misery this causes. Some doubted the need for revealing such harsh truths at an early stage, but the thousands of children who read the book often sent letters of thanks to the author. Sometimes they wrote directly to the fictional David as well." 

found this very interesting as it echoed the issues we were discussing in the workshop, to do with "how much” to tell children about war.

In the book, David himself says, “I am glad I told Maria that evil exists. I don’t want her to be afraid, but it’s something you have to know about. Can’t you understand that children have a right to know everything that’s true?”

Other books you might like:
The silver sword by Ian Serraillier (1956) is also about children wandering through post-war Europe, trying to reach a safe country (in this case, Switzerland), although these children do have each other and aren't as completely alone as David.  

Number the stars by Lois Lowry is set in Denmark (where David is told to head to) in World War Two and celebrates the bravery and compassion of the Danish people

Things I didn’t know
That this book which I loved as a child isn't about World War Two at all!

Monday 6 October 2014

Flora's war by Pamela Rushby

Flora’s war by Pamela Rushby (Ford Street Publishing, 2013)

ISBN 978 1 921665 98 1

18 chapters; 243 pages

Subjects: World War One, Egypt, archaeology, nurses, young adult fiction (Year 8-11)


Synopsis
(From the back cover): "It’s 1915 and sixteen year old Australian, Flora Wentworth, is visiting Cairo with her archaeologist father. She watches with growing alarm as first a trickle and then a flood of wounded soldiers are shipped into the city from Gallipoli….As Flora battles to save lives and find her own, a tragic misunderstanding changes everything…"

Reviews:
There are two good reviews here and here. Both mention the way in which the author contrasts the hectic social life of Cairo in 1914 and even early 1915 with the changes that war brings.  

Author’s website
Pamela Rushby was born in Toowoomba, Queensland and now lives in Brisbane.

Other books you might like:
The horses didn’t come home, also by Pamela Rushby (January 2014) describes a visit to an archaeological dig. My review of that book on my blog includes info on the finding in 1922 of Tutankhamen.

Evan's Gallipoli by Kerry Greenwood (October 2013) is a book by another Australian author which has some parallels in the relationship between (vague) father and (confident) child.

Things I didn’t know
Pamela Rushby says in the Author’s note that she was carrying out some early research on WW1 nurses, but what really “grabbed her imagination” was “an entirely different story. Cairo’s story.” The city was “overwhelmed” with wounded soldiers  were sent back from Gallipoli and many hotels and public buildings were turned into hospitals or convalescent homes, with medical staff worked off their feet in trying conditions and volunteers helping as much as possible. 

She paints a convincing picture of the city and its streets and buildings, never letting us forget the history on its outskirts or the ever present heat and dust. I would love to visit the real-life inspiration for the House of the Butcher and Blacksmith (Flora’s home): the Gayer-Anderson Museum. (According to Lonely Planet, this was used as a location for the James Bond movie The spy who loved me!)

Links
Flora and her friend Gwen help out as volunteers at Lady Bellamy’s (very proper) rest and recreation centre, and also on the hospital wards. They make friends with the Australian nurses in Cairo (the first NZ nurses arrived after the 25 April landing at Gallipoli; they were at least in their mid-20s, so would have been quite a bit older than Flora and Gwen.) 

Some of Flora and Gwen's friends depart to work in hospitals on Lemnos or on the hospital ships, so we hear about their nursing work through letters or conversation.  Other actual events such as the riots in the Wozzer are also covered.

There are some amazing photos and stories in this AWM exhibition on the Great War nurses.


A page from the photograph album of my great-great-aunt, Louisa Bird, 
who was one of the first NZ nurses in Egypt.
On the photo in the middle, she has written "15th General Hospital".