A Rose for the Anzac Boys

The story opens at an Anzac Day parade in 1975 with a young boy pushing his grandfather’s wheelchair to the service. Afterwards his grandfather lays a single rose among the wreaths.

It’s 1914 and 16-year-old New Zealander Midge Macpherson has been sent to finishing school in Britain. Her older brother Dougie, and twin brother Tim, both enlisted in World War I (1914-1918) and Tim has been posted as missing. Midge, along with school chums Ethyl and Anne, have had enough of sitting around; they want to do something real and worthwhile for the war effort. Ethel’s father is in the grocery trade and agrees to supply them with cocoa and other necessities as they hatch a plan to set up a canteen at a train station in France. They will help show more cater for the hundreds and thousands soldiers heading out to the front line as well as the wounded on their way back to medical care.

The realities are horrific as they face the realities of carnage and waste wrought in part by incompetent British generals. Midge eventually is pressed into service as an ambulance driver as well as a nurse. She encounters the victims of shell shock – a diagnosis denied by the army who don’t want to have to pay a pension to these victims, many of whom were sent back to the front lines. ‘You fought with the others. If you ran, they shot you – not the enemy, but your own side. And if you screamed in terror, or shook hands with the enemy as you gathered in your dead, they wrote ‘lack of moral fibre’ – LMT – in blood upon your forehead’ (p. 188).

The story concludes at Anzac Day parade in 2007 with the now adult Lachlan’s own experience in Afghanistan as he lays a rose amongst the wreaths.

Jackie French has drawn on many letters and diaries plus interviewing the descendents of some of the soldiers to create this story about the forgotten army of WWI. This book is truly inspiring as it shows the courage and heroism of women during wartime. These amazing women, whose story has long been ignored, volunteered their time, supplies, skills and lives during the war, often at great personal cost and sacrifice.

Detailed historical maps in the front, great extra information and historical detail included at the back. The only undercurrent I detected was a slight distain for conscientious objectors. As the 100th commemorations draw near, stories like this one become ever more important to bring home the true realities of war. show less

Set during the devastating time in history, that is, World War I, this moving story is about a group of girls who volunteer to set up and run a canteen to help care for wounded soldiers in the French countryside. One of them, Midge, a young New Zealand girl, finds herself suddenly driving an ambulance and attending to wounded soldiers at a casualty station. Along the way she forms affectionate friendships and experiences love and loss. Written with a combination of narrative and letters this truly memorable piece of historical fiction propels the reader to reflect on the important meaning of ANZAC day. Its impact brought me to tears. I highly recommended it.

This book is aimed at a young adult audience, but I think it will find many fans amongst the adult population as well. Jackie French has extended her, not inconsiderable, talent in order to truly bring the first world war to life. The horror and bewilderment of people experiencing trench warfare for the first time are expressed well and we find ourselves immersed in the lives and minds of her characters. This is one of those books that makes a real emotional impact and will live on in your memory long after you have read it. I can't think of a better book to introduce the topic of World War One to the younger generation.

If you give one book about WWI to kids to read, this should be on your shortlist, if not the top of it. Compelling story about a group of young women who take themselves to France to make cocoa for the soldiers.

Wow what a read! Set in WWI Europe a young girl’s twin brother is listed as 'missing' in action at Gallipoli. She and two school friends decide to do their bit and set up a canteen in France to provide hot chocolate, sandwiches, a friendly voice and a hand to hold for the endless flow of wounded soldiers returning from the front. A heartbreaking story at times but was worth every moment that I spent reading it.

This took me a bit too long to finish reading - mostly because it dealt with such grim experiences during world war 1. But it was a good story. Totally fiction, but completely based on real events - a novel crafted from the diaries and letters of the women who volunteered in the midst of the Great War. It was eye-opening and gritty, but with a touching and beautiful side as well. I learned a lot about an important peice of Australian and New Zealand cultural heritage and history. I have some new heros in these behind-the-scenes ANZAC women.

A Rose for the Anzac Boys:
Is about the forgotten army of WWI. The army of women who volunteered their time, supplies, skills and lives to help all the troops that went to war. This story is told through the eyes of a courageous girl called Midge Macpherson who gets sent to a school in England to become a lady, after her two brothers Tim and Dougie have headed off to war. Midge befriends two girls Ethyl and Anne at her school in England and the three of them decided that they are sick and tired of sitting around and they want the adventure and excitement that the war has to offer. So the three girls set off to France where they start up a canteen for the wounded soldiers and soldiers heading out to the front line. To their horror they show more realize the carnage and devastation the war really is and that it’s not the big adventure they thought it would be. Midge also becomes an ambulance driver as well as a nurse and sees more things than she should have. Midge also learns the sad truth that the army were disapproving of those soldiers who got shell shock and wouldn’t even give the soldiers the pensions they deserved and at times they were even sending these poor victims back into the front line. This book shows the great bonds of Midge and her friends as well as the bonds that can develop with strangers. Throughout the book there are letters written to midge from her relative’s friends and soldiers as well as the letters midge has written to them. The letters really make you feel that you are back in the early 1900s experiencing the war. I believe this book is truly inspiring as it shows the courage and strength that the women went through during the war. And how poorly they were recognized even though without these heroic women many more man would have died. I highly recommend this book it will make you truly admire these wonderful women. show less