Nursing Fox by Jim Ditchfield: Nurses on the Western Front

For a gripping account of the service of the nurses in France, and for a carefully researched and engrossing picture of how awful was ‘The War To End All Wars’, I highly recommend Nursing Fox.

Jim Ditchfield’s novel is a homage to the women who served as nurses on the Western Front. He says, ‘Although they performed a crucial role, the nurses of the Australian Army Nursing Service are rarely mentioned in accounts of that conflict’. I feel well read about that war but until now I did not know about the conditions these nurses had to endure. The Casualty Clearing Stations (CCS) had to be close to the trenches to give the wounded the best chance of survival. That meant the doctors, nurses and patients got regularly shelled and bombed.

We follow the fortunes of Lucy Paignton-Fox who has been raised on a cattle station in the Northern Territory. She has studied for what was in 1914 for women an extraordinary chance to train as a doctor. But when Australia follows Britain into the war in Europe, Lucy volunteers to be an army nurse.

The nurses work until exhausted and then keep on working. The wounded stream in from ‘stunts’ (battles) the names of which are now engraved on war memorials: The Somme, Fromelles, Pozieres, Ypres, Messines, the Menin Road, Passchendaele. Each name represents astonishing numbers of mangled humans.

‘There were only 41 men still fighting fit, four walking wounded, one who needed a stretcher. Just 41. The company had been 250 strong when the stunt started’. P.120 John Mitchell reviews his shattered company.

We are also introduced to John Mitchell of the AIF (Australian Imperial Force) and to Adam Haywood (Royal Flying Corps), Through their eyes we see the fighting on the ground and in the air. We are taken through the frentic disorganisation of things as basic as getting fed, getting the hospital tents set up, and moving about on the shattered ‘roads’ (planks laid over mud). As readers we get to know as little of the ruthless decisions being made by the base-wallahs (staff officers) as do the troops and nurses. But we see the results in the plethora of grim details. As well as the human toll, the author reminds us of the transport horses and mules killed by artillery or worked to exhaustion. There is no blaze of glory anywhere, just the endurance of the unbearable by men and women at a time when the best anyone could hope for was a ‘ticket to blighty’ (a wound so bad they’ll be sent to England.)

Where to find Nursing Fox: From publisher Odyssey Books , from BookDepository (with free shipping worldwide) and from Amazon in softcover and Kindle, Barnes and Noble in soft cover Nook, Chapters Indigo, Booktopia, and Waterstones. Or, ask your friendly local bookstore to order it in for you.

Another excellent novel involving the field hospitals and nurses on the Western Front is The Bishops Girl by Rebecca Burns. You can see my review here.

Personal Note: One battle name in particular gave me an irrational start: The Menin Road. As a child in New Zealand I lived on a quiet suburban street called Menin Road. The streets all around bore names which I later learnt to be battles of that terrible war. It’s curious to think that as I played games on the neat lawns, I had no idea across the other side of the world so many thousands had died by the original Menin Road that their number will never be known.

PLEASE FOLLOW US At Baffled Bear Books .
Simply plonk your paw on the FOLLOW buttons on this very page.
You can also follow on Amazon and on GoodReads. We are also on Instagram, and Tiktok, and Anchor/ Spotify and Mastodon (link is @mawsonbear@mastodon.au. )

Mark is guardian and blundering typist for Mawson, one of this bright world’s few published bears.

Two stories of the Battle of Crete 1941: The Girl Under The Olive Tree, and Anzac Fury

I read three books concerning Crete this month. First, Swallows Dance by Wendy Orr, set in the Bronze Age. Then I read in tandem both a novel and a history on what happened from 1941 to 1945 to the Cretan population, and to others caught up in the invasion and occupation, including soldiers and resistance fighters of Crete, Greece, Italy, Germany, Britain, Australia and New Zealand (ANZACS).

An innocuous title, thought I, as I selected The Girl Under the Olive Tree, by Leah Flemming for a holiday read. Well, it starts quietly enough with young Penelope George in Scotland mainly concerned to avoid being married off by her status conscious mother. But in her search to find her own identity in life, she takes up nursing training, then accepts a chance to join her sister in Athens.

An idyllic time follows for Penelope but as Italian and then German forces invade Greece, she is caught up in a malestrom of war. As she turns 21 she makes hard choices, the courage and cost of which not one male in the story seems to appreciate.

Through this fictional story of her endurance and trials, and those of her friend, Yolanda, and of her love for the infuriating Bruce Jardin, we are taken through the horrors endured by this island. But what, thought I, as I read on, totally engrossed, of this olive tree? All becomes clear eventually.

The Girl Under the Olive Tree, by Leah Flemming, published by Simon and Schuster 2013, was inspired in part by Johanna Stavridi, a nurse honoured by the Hellenic Red Cross for her courage and work.

Anzac Fury: The Bloody Battle of Crete 1941, by Peter Thompson, published by William Heinemann 2010, concerns, as you’d expect from the title, the fighting itself during the invasion, particularly that of the ANZACS*. But so we can make sense of it all, Thompson takes in the wider scenario beginning with the fighting in North Africa and the whole Mediterrean.

He describes ordinary fighting men and the astonishing things they did (through use of surviving diaries and letters), and he goes into the personalities and motivations of the commanders and politicians, whose decisions cost so many so much.

*Note for non-Australasian readers:
The term ANZAC was coined in 1915 to denote the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps that fought in the disaster known as Gallipoli, a campaign conceived by Mr Winston Churchill. Turkish, French and British troops died there too in huge numbers, yet the event has a special place in the histories of Australia and New Zealand. Both were small countries that had only been self governing for 13 or 14 years. They suffered losses that shook their national psyches. The day the troops landed, 25 April, is a day of Remembrance.

When, 26 years later, the troops of these nations were shipped to the hopeless cause of defending Greece, again due to the decisions of Mr Churchill, they were highly conscious that illfated Gallipoli was not far away.

Mark is guardian and blundering typist for Mawson, one of this bright world’s few published bears.

Book Review: More About Teddy Robinson

Despite what the title may suggest, we are told on the first page that More About Teddy Robinson, by Joan G. Robinson, is the first collection of Teddy Robinson stories. My previously reviewed Dear Teddy Robinson is the second book of stories about the eponymous bear. As before this collection, originally published by Puffin, is […]
Book Review: More About Teddy Robinson

This review is by Never Imitate Blog review blog, a fine source of reviews by passionate readers.

What Happened at the Abbey, by Isobel Blackthorn

The Straithbairn Trilogy Book 1 About What Happened at the Abbey When Ingrid flees a violent husband to become a housekeeper in the Scottish Highlands, she discovers the family she works for has a much darker history than her own. Who haunts Strathbairn? Why are the adult McCleod children at each other’s throats? And why […]
What Happened at the Abbey

Click on the above to read more about this trilogy. You can see my reviews and details of some of Isobel’s other books right here on this web den. The Drago Tree is the first of Blackthorn’s several books set on the Canary Islands. And the Perfect Square is a meditation on art and artists.

You are at Baffled Bear Books, brought to you by Mark, who is Guardian and blundering typist for Mawson Bear, one of this bright world’s few published bears. Mawson is the writer bear of It’s A Bright World To Feel Lost In and of She Ran Away From Love and of Dreamy Days and Random Naps.

Conversations From The Bridge, by Pauline Dewberry (Ollie Cat’s last diary)

This book is not only for cat lovers, but for all everyone who has lost a pet and wondered wondered about how they are, over there, across The Rainbow Bridge. In the third and last of his diaries, Ollie reports from beyond the Bridge.

Cover of Conversations from the Bridge, by Pauline Dewberry — Ollie Cat himself as he arrives over The Bridge

Ollie, the bouncy young cat, is back. But no longer does he recount his exploits within the Lazypaws Guest House For Discerning Felines, as he did in his previous two diaries (Click here to see my reviews) . For Ollie has taken himself unsupervised on a walk across the road (Oh, No!) … And now finds himself in what he thinks is a dream. “Iridescent beautiful colours seemed to be everywhere, shimmering in the early morning haze’. (Chapter 1). To his further surprise, Ollie is greeted by former departed cats of the Lazy Paws Guest House, wise old Garfield, Ricky, Timmy and Billy.

They explain that he is at The Rainbow Bridge. But Ollie wants to go back to Mum at home. They say that he cannot cross the Bridge back the other way. Ollie thinks this is a stupid rule. Time and again, he attempts to cross back over the Bridge. The other cats, and his new friend Michael Mouse, and even The Great Cat In The Sky, patiently help Ollie bear up through his shock, confusion, and longing..

This is a story, as the author says, of grief as seen in reverse. Just as Mum takes time to come to terms with Ollie’s sudden road accident death, so does Ollie parallel her bereavement. Eventually, looking back through a special portal, he sees Mum ‘get her purr back’ as she is comforted by other cats. Finally he feels ready to let go his responsibility for looking after her.

l recommend this book to all looking for comfort after losing a loved fur-friend. ‘Purr filled blessings” be upon you.

Conversations from the Bridge: More adventures of Ollie the Cat, by Pauline Dewberry is available in Kindle from Amazon. Take a look too at Ollie’s other diaries.

The first of Ollie’s three diaries is called Landing On All Four Paws: The diary of a kitten called Ollie, by Ollie Cat. I reviewed it here. It’s available on Amazon too. (FREE too, if you use Kindle Unlimited.) . The second diary, Further adventures of Ollie the Cat, is are also available on Kindle.

The author: Pauline Dewbery helped Ollie to record his adventures. The Daily Mews is Pauline Dewberry’s popular website for cat lovers. With cat humour and jokes, caption contests, guest articles about cat care and cat antics, it is your ‘purrfect way to start the day.’ It provides, among other things, a space to respectfully reflect on feelings of grief for our passed pets, for instance, in the tributes called “Napping on A Sunbeam”.

Cover of For Such A Time As This: My journey through cancer. How love and my cats sustained, fortified me, and helped take the pain away

Pauline also wrote For Such A Time As This: My journey through cancer. How love and my cats sustained, fortified me, and helped take the pain away. This is listed at Amazon UK and Amazon USA and on Amazon Australia. and more. It’s about $3 on Kindle and in some regions its FREE to read with Kindle unlimited.

You are at Mark’s blog called Baffled Bear Books. Mark is a dark coffee tragic, bibliophile and Guardian of Mawson Bear, a Ponderer of Baffling Things and one of this bright world’s few published bears.

‘Darkness can come from what seems to help others’: Harlequins Riddle, Book 1 of the Tales of Tarya, by Rachael Nightingale

Are you fascinated by that most mysterious thing, the act, the mystery, the alchemy at the moment of creativity?

While The Tales of Tarya trilogy is presented as a fantasy for Young Adults, I think it’s an engrossing read for anyone aged 109 or under who is fascinated by that most mysterious thing, the mystery at the heart of creating things.

What happens to artists, writers, composers, as they disappear into “where the magic happens”? Do they go to another place entirely? Do they go to Tarya? The Tales will especially appeal, I think, to anyone who has stepped on a stage and entered that terrifying in-between moment being being oneself and playing the role.

‘Thunder rolled heavily as Mina neared her house, her steps weighed down by the endless years ahead, fulfilling everyone’s needs but her own.’

Mina’s quiet days consist of helping her family, particularly Uncle Tonio who had some sort of breakdown years before. She had enlivened her hours by telling stories but her father forced her to stop – he feared them for some reason.

Players arrive in her backcountry town of Andon in Litonya. The disturbing Harlequin invites Mina to join the troupe. She accepts in the hope of learning what happened to her brother who had disappeared years before. Her father now reveals that her story telling is a special gift: she can call visions into being with her words.

As the troupe rolls through Litonya in their wagons Mina tests her story telling powers and discovers a mysterious other world called Tarya. But her new friends evade her questions, even Dario to whom she feels attracted . They pass through villages afraid of the Players and some people in them seem to be empty of soul, like Uncle Tonio. She grows more and more uneasy.

Rachel Nightingale looks at the paradox of power. When you can affect the lives of others you could do great good but also unwittingly cause harm. And always there are those who take power for themselves and abuse it anyway.

‘Darkness can come from what seems to help others’.

The descriptions of the other-world of Tarya itself are lyrical, dreamy, haunting. I couldn’t get enough of it. I will never think about creativity again without Tarya in mind.

The Tales of Tarya, by Rachael Nightingale are published by Odyssey Books.
Columbine’s Tale, Book two of the series, and Book Three, Pierrots’ Song are also out now.

I recommend also the website for Rachael Nightingale, novelist, playwright, performer and thespian, where she speaks of the power of story and fantasy in our lives. Readers can learn more there about the Commedia dell’Arte.

The Tales of Tarya is available at: Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble, and Chapters Indigo, among others. For Columbine’s Tale see Amazon and BookDepository.

You are at Mark’s blog called Baffled Bear Books. Mark is a bibliophile, dark coffee tragic, and the guardian and blundering typist for Mawson Bear, one of this bright world’s few published bears.

The Mirror Image of Sound, by Dan Djurdevic, 10 year anniversary edition

The Mirror Image of Sound, A Novel Written in Real Time gives us several levels to absorb in one book: the portrait of a failed marriage, martial arts action, workplace and domestic bullying, a philosophy and possible science of alternate worlds, or parellel lives, if you like; and there is even a romance.

It would become a classic of it’s kind but only for the fact that it is the one novel of its kind I believe to exist, particularly as it was written in real time – of which more later. I feel fortunate to have read it.

Black comedy of the darkest hues

We are at first spiralled down into a black comedy of a disintegrating personality. Because much of the daily detail is horribly familiar to the experiences you and I have also endured and yearned to escape, we can’t help following Dan, the hapless hero, through his ghastly days with the boss from hell, the friend from purgatory and the wife from nightmares.

Only Dan’s Uncle Frank seems to care about him. But when Frank suddenly dies, Dan finds himself being manipulated from beyond the grave. Exhausted by the demands on him, Dan wrestles with mounting debt, the scorn of his relatives, a mystery basement filled by sound equipment with peculiar instructions, and the curious case of Bugsy, the droopy-eyed cat, who simply vanishes.

If only Dan, and you, and I, could just vanish and start again

If only Dan could vanish too – to a whole new life: new house, new friends, new job, new love affair. Have you not toyed with such a dream?

But if you do create a new life, even a new self, you might also unleash new and drastic consequences of your actions. After all, do you know the extreme possibilities of your own personality? Really, do you? I HAD to read on.

This science-fiction tale warps within inner space, the infinite space of Self. As you barrel through it, you will not only learn Dan’s chosen path but also be whisked across useful tips on how to create your own band, how to make Balkan moussaka, and how to totally destroy a front lawn. There is also a heartfelt homage to the music of The Hunters and Collectors. (You may recall Throw Your Loving Arms Around Me, from this band.)

Real Time Writing

We’ve seen a few movies try to portray say two hours of action within the two hour running time. But this novel began with a much greater challenge. It was uniquely written and presented, at first, in real time, that is each day of writing became a day in the life of the character.

As the author completed, for instance on a Monday, what the hero ficitionally endured on that Monday, he uploaded that chapter/day to a blog the same night. This must have fascinated the readers for some 8000 followed it in those (real) weeks).

But the author states that he often finished the chapter/day with no idea how he was going to extricate his characters the next day. And there was no going back. He couldn’t think, oh that angle is not working, I’ll go back and change what’s happened so far. No, he pressed on with what he had. Dan talks about this fascinating approach in an appendix to the book. (Personally I would wonder, children, whether to try this at home. The pressure on the author strikes me as enormous.)

Dan Djurdjevic’s other tales include, Nights of The Moon , The Shadow of Dusk and, not shown here, and A Hazy Sh ade of Twilight.

Amazon links: The Mirror Image of Sound , The Girl In The Attic, suitable for young adults (See my review here), Nights of The Moon, and The Shadow of Dusk.

Information about the author for those interested in martial arts

Dan is the author of the award winning blog “The Way of Least Resistance” as well as Essential Jo and “Applied Karate”.

He is the current chief instructor of the Academy of Traditional Fighting Arts based at the Bayswater Martial Arts and Yoga Centre in Western Australia. There he teaches Okinawan karate, Chen Pan Ling style taiji (t’ai chi) and other gong fu (kung fu) as well as various traditional weapons systems.

For Such A Time As This: My Journey through Cancer. How love and my cats sustained, fortified me, and helped take the pain away, by Pauline Dewberry

“I sat in stupefied silence .. How could I possibly have leukaemia? How did I get it? Why did I get it? Was I going to die? If so, when?”

At the age of 56 Pauline Dewberry felt content with her life. She had sons and grandchildren, the company of six cats, projects and plans. Then she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML).

Pussy cat. Cats filled Paulines life with love

“Hold it there”, you may think. “You’re suggesting I read a medical-term laden memoir of a cancer survivor?” Not at all. I’m recommending a story of faith, prayers, cats, purring, medical marvels, unexpected friendships, and even a love story.

The author wrote this often raw account of her seemingly interminable – and near to actually being terminal – battle with cancer to share how ‘despite the odds being stacked up against you, it IS possible to look your enemy in the eye and win’.

Pauline describes her illness and treatment with such clear language that it is easy to comprehend. As well as being informative about AML, this candid account will be a valuable eye-opener, I think, for the supporting friends and family of anyone who is locked in a prolonged battle with ill health, not only with cancer.

As well as her faith, and the great good fortune of the stem cell match with her brother, Pauline valued her ‘Purr-atherapy’. She describes how her cats would curl against her at home and purr her through many dark hours. As time passed, each of her purr-ers died, sadly. But two new cats, Casey and Gibbs, introduced themselves into her life, and with their company the author is now in remission after surviving aggressive chemotherapy, the stem cell transplant, CMV, MRSA and Graft Vs host Disease (GVHD).

The Daily Mews is Pauline Dewberry’s popular website for cat lovers. With cat humour and jokes, caption contests, guest articles about cat care and cat antics, it is your ‘purrfect way to start the day.’ (Mawson’s guardian has been a reader of the dailymews.com for years.)

The author: Pauline Dewbery trained to be an editor and had many articles published in teen girl’s magazines. Pauline is a pet bereavement counsellor. Her Daily Mews website provides, among other things, a space to respectfully reflect on feelings of grief for our passed pets, for instance, in the tributes called “Napping on A Sunbeam”. Another popular feature of The Daily Mews was “Ollie’s Diary”. When Ollie died Pauline decided, after some thought, to continue with the diary but with Ollie now reporting from beyond the Rainbow Bridge. She is currently preparing these diaries for publication. You can contact Pauline at pauline @thedailymews.com or p.dewberry @ntlworld.com

Where to find it For Such A Time As This, by Pauline Dewberry, cover by Aida Marina: Amazon UK and Amazon USA (under $3 on Kindle) and Amazon Australia (free right now with Kindle unlimited). Check your own Amazon Stores in Kindle.

Landing On All Four Paws: Further adventures of Ollie the Cat, by Pauline Dewberry

A book for cat lovers.

Cats rejoice! Ollie is back. By perusing this continuation of his diary, the discerning can learn and share the joys of how to play with the bits of broken sky (‘snow’), how to play with spiders on the windowsill and what to do about live birds in the mouth of your brother cat, and how to train your food-bowl-filler-person to fill your bowl with precisely what you require.

When will those who make cat food make plain and simple food.. Why can’t we have Mouse flavour, Little Furry Thing flavour, Next Door Neighbours Gold Fish From His Pond flavour? …
Ollie, Sunday 15th, attempting to have his bowl filled properly

By study of Ollie’s easy to read diary entries you can also learn how to be banned from every room in the house by trying to be helpful. Consider, for instance, the important cat job of supervising in the kitchen.

‘I helped her by overseeing what she was doing, so each time she did a new bit of floor, I sat on the bit that she had just washed. It was no trouble at all – I like helping, you know me! It all seemed a lot of hard work though, so I walked up and down on the wet floor”.
Ollie describes how to get banned from the kitchen.

With delightful chapter headings like, ‘Chapter 7. Hypnotised by the biggest bumble bee in the world’, and wise quotes about cats by famous cat lovers, your humans will also find this book a light easy read about their favourite subject – living with us cats.

Landing On All Four Paws: The diary of a kitten called Ollie, by Ollie Cat, is the first of Ollie’s diaries. I reviewed it here. It’s available on Amazon. (FREE too, if you use Kindle Unlimited.) . These Further adventures of Ollie the Cat are also available on Kindle.

The author: Pauline Dewbery helped Ollie to record his adventures. She trained to be an editor and had many articles published in teen girl’s magazines. Pauline is a pet bereavement counsellor. The Daily Mews is Pauline Dewberry’s popular website for cat lovers. With cat humour and jokes, caption contests, guest articles about cat care and cat antics, it is your ‘purrfect way to start the day.’ It provides, among other things, a space to respectfully reflect on feelings of grief for our passed pets, for instance, in the tributes called “Napping on A Sunbeam”.

Cover of For Such A Time As This, by Pauline Dewberry

Landing On All Four Paws: The diary of a kitten called Ollie, by Ollie Cat

Cats rejoice! Ollie is here. By perusing his diary, the discerning cat (and aren’t all cats ‘discerning’) can be taken through important questions such as how to successfully enter a new household, how relate to the other established felines, and how to manage the Two-legged-furless-food-bowl-filler-person.

‘There’s a lot of work involved in being a kitten. It’s not all lying around looking cute and adorable, you know, although that is part of my job description.’ Ollie speaking (on the day of The Great Toilet Paper Debacle.)

The Lazy Paws Guest House for Discerning Felines

The Pet Shop Man phoned The Cat Lady of Brook Street about a kitten who had lost his home. She called him Ollie, ‘and he didn’t stop crying.’ Meeting a line up of six huge cats, Garfield, Sam, Billy. Timmy, Ricky and Charlie, when he arrived only frightened him more.

Great Garfield, the Obi Wan Kenobi of Felines

But Garfield takes kindly to the kitten and helps him to understand important things. ‘Cats live alongside, humans and … we help them, guide them, show them the way.’ Mentored by wise Garfield, Ollie learns the ways of the Guest House and how to enjoy his life. Napping, eating, exploring, watching the birds, and dancing with butterflies are important parts of his curriculum.

Some Things To Not Do, Apparently

Trying to dig a way out of a laundry by making an artistic hole in a new mat. Peeing on a cushion. Leaping out from behind doors on unsuspecting fellow cats. Peeing on the cushion again. Chewing the knitting wool. Helping to sweep by standing on the broom. Bounding on to Mum’s bed at 4.30 am.

The Great Cat In The Sky

As he gets a bit bigger, Ollie also learns how to swing from the curtains, do daring roof climbs, and to make neighbourhood friends. From Garfield he learns the stories of cats who have lived before in the house, and how to Say Goodbyes.

‘The Great Cat gives us a certain amount of time with the two-legged furless ones … and its up to us .. to teach humans about life and how to get the best out of it.’ Garfield to the house hold cats.

‘I, Ollie, ,the award-winning Diary writer Extraordinaire, have danced with Butterflies’. Ollie, in May

Landing On All Four Paws: The diary of a kitten called Ollie, by Ollie Cat, is now available on Amazon. (FREE too, if you use Kindle Unlimited.) The author dedicates it to “all the cats I’ve known and loved, and those I’ve yet to meet.” Take a look. You will purr, you will growl, y ou will discover cat Tai chi, you will curl up for a nap, and you will get a bit teary.

Ollies Further adventures are now out too! And a third one is on the way.

Share the Joy

Share the Joy

Share the Joy

Share the Joy

Share the Joy

Share the Joy

Share the Joy

Share the Joy

Share the Joy

Share the Joy