In the Mood

After Hiroshima, as the Japanese surrendered in the Pacific, the colonial masters returned to reclaim their right. Even if more benign, the locals did not stand for it. Back home in Oz, the returning soldiers replaced their womenfolk in the workforce, requiring the latter to return to their previous......more

Laura Bloom’s new book: “In the Mood” is about war. The war that soldiers brought home together with their guilt for what they did and for their own survival. It is a war shattered in a million pieces that fill the air like a swarm of locusts getting into people’s nostrils and lungs and each and eve......more

Very honest and realistic account a couple trying to piece their lives back together after WWII in Sydney - post-traumatic stress, the secrets they kept from each other, and the hopelessness of trying to fit back into their old lives and roles again when so much has changed. Very beautifully written......more

In Sydney 1946, a young husband returns from the horrors of war in the New Guinea jungle to a wife who, after 3 years’ silence, has believed him dead. The author has been shortlisted for Australian literary awards, and I saw this was included on one of the Guardian’s ten-best-books-about-X lists. Bo......more