'Pennies for Hitler' by Jackie French

I'm including this book for the migration category of my 2025 Aussie Book Challenge. What a desperate and reactive migration story it turns out to be. I discovered this one in a local Little Free Book Library, long after I'd set my categories for this year's challenge. I'm loving and appreciating the serendipitous nature in which perfect books tend to gravitate into my hands. 

MY THOUGHTS:

The story begins in 1939 when young Georg's happy, sheltered life is abruptly shattered. Right before his eyes, his poetry-loving, academic father is killed at a graduation ceremony that becomes a frenzied riot. That same night, the ten-year-old is smuggled out of Germany in a suitcase to avoid being murdered for supposedly being the spawn of a Jewish menace, an accusation that takes him entirely by surprise.

Georg takes refuge for a while in London, but when bombs begin raining on the city, his Aunt Miriam sends him on an evacuation ship to Australia, where he's assigned to live with the Peaslake family of Bellagong, whose son, Alan, is fighting in the army. Australia, which Georg first regards as a 'strange, untidy country where every color looks slightly wrong' becomes his refuge and oasis. It contains total strangers who he grows to love with all his heart. 

What a terrific novel, cramming such a lot of introspection into the four or so years it spans. This traumatised kid surely needs counselling, but living in survival mode makes mental health care a luxury. Georg, now known to everyone as George, must be his own counsellor. 

First he deals with some pretty major cognitive dissonance. All the propaganda he'd ever taken on board at school had been the cruelest lie all along. Nothing quite like having to be sneaked across your country's border in carry luggage to destroy your illusions about your country's leader. Georg must adjust to a whole new culture and master a foreign language to save himself, right on the heels of the most traumatic blow of his life. Then in Australia, imposter syndrome is added to the mix. He has no way of knowing how his new caregivers might feel about unwittingly sheltering a German boy beneath their roof, so makes his own quiet conclusions. 

When circumstances take him off guard yet again, and he's about 14 at this stage, he finds out for sure. 

This book's finer details about living in the WW2 era adds great colour and authenticity to the story. (In Georg's London life, treasured paintings and exhibits were evacuated from museums, and an edict was given for household pets to be euthanized, as part of the war effort. In his rural Aussie life when the threat of Japanese invaders loomed, road signs and station names vanished so the enemy couldn't possibly figure out exactly where they were.) I appreciated the depth of research on Jackie French's part. 

Such a great tale, taking the concept of an unsung hero to a whole new level, for Georg's extreme heroism must be a complete secret for his continued survival. Or so he thinks. It passed my 'tears test' with flying colours, and deserves full marks. 

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'After the Funeral' by Agatha Christie

I notice I haven't reviewed an Agatha Christie novel for a little while. Here is a good one to break the drought.  

MY THOUGHTS:

The scene is Enderby, a run-down Victorian manor house. 

Elderly Richard Abernethie has just died. He'd brought up his younger siblings and outlived all but two. In addition, there is now a bachelor nephew, George, and two nieces, Susan and Rosamund, along with their husbands. When the extended family returns after the funeral for afternoon tea, flaky Aunt Cora puts her foot in her mouth. She says, 'He was murdered, wasn't he? I thought from what he said...' 

Cora has a long history of social faux pas, but now she's done it once too often. The following day, she's discovered viciously murdered in bed. The killer struck her skull with a hatchet and tried to make it appear like a simple robbery. 

Although there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding Richard's death, loyal family lawyer, Mr Entwhistle, can't shake off an uneasy feeling. He'd hate to think bad of the family he's served for decades, but before long Cora's live-in companion, Miss Gilchrist, seems marked for murder too. It appears evident that one member of the Abernethie family is a rat, trying to dispose of anybody who might have the slightest inkling of whatever Richard said to his youngest sister. 

It is high time for Entwhistle to call his good friend, Hercule Poirot, out from retirement. If anyone can get to the bottom of the evil menace, surely he can. 

When Poirot investigates the backgrounds of everyone who was present after Richard's funeral, he regards each and every one of them as people who would never commit murder as a general rule, but might make an exception for a special case. (Of course any subsequent incidents are strictly necessary for cover-up.)

He says:

'Let us admit without more ado that the world is full of the young, or even the middle-aged, who wait patiently or impatiently for the death of someone whose decease will give them, if not affluence, then at least opportunity.' 

That applies to everyone. Doesn't it always?

It was a fun read. Several relatives drop humorous one-liners, especially when they're brought together again, ostensibly to select personal keepsakes from Richard's estate. The investigations cleverly paint a composite picture of Cora's character, after she's dead. And some of the other relatives are larger-than-life. George, the closet gambler, Rosamund, the air-headed actress, and Uncle Timothy, the tedious hypochondriac whose wife, Maude, lives to pamper him.

When Poirot gathers them all together in the drawing room to make the big reveal, I still didn't have a clue who to point the finger at, and I prefer it that way. It turns out the crook was willing to go to devious lengths to deflect suspicion. 

* A quick note on my edition's cover: we need to progress pretty far into the story before the significance of the nun becomes apparent. The younger generations' discussion of ladies of the cloth is very amusing once we get there. 

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'Then there were Five' by Elizabeth Enright

This is the third novel in Elizabeth Enright's Melendy Quartet, and I love this original cover design of all five young protagonists, along with the two dogs. Why shouldn't Isaac and John Doe get a look in. If you begin with my reviews of The Saturdays, followed by The Four-Story Mistake, then you'll be up to this one. 

MY THOUGHTS:  

What I find exceptional in this vintage series is Elizabeth Enright's seasonal continuity. This installment takes place in the summer that was highly anticipated during the spring of The Four-Story Mistake. Enright's nature writing, rather than comprising mere background detail, beautifully becomes the backbone of all the unfolding events in the plot. 

The main theme of this third novel is how the Melendys come to adopt a new adolescent brother named Mark, who is almost the same age as Rush. When they first meet him, Mark lives with his abusive cousin Oren, who mistreats him horribly. The manner in which circumstances release Mark from Oren's tyranny is very dramatic, but I won't spoil it.

We are at the point where some reviewers believe the Melendy Quartet departs from its simple charm, since the sordidness of real life breaks in too rudely for them. However, for me the whole point of this third novel is the contrast, and the fact that the Melendy milieu proves strong enough to withstand the dark side of life. By the end, Mark changes from a lonely, starving outcast who craves company to the happy member of a loving family. He's nourished by plenty of wholesome food, literature, music, gardening, and cheeky jokes. In short, all the things that make life good. 

In a world in which we're counselled to slow down and enjoy the small things, that's exactly what the Melendys do. We can't help taking on board their refreshing influence while we immerse ourselves in these stories. (Yep, even though Rush and Mark eavesdrop on some law-breakers at an illicit booze still - horror to some readers! Come on guys, this is a pretty tame story and that incident is great fun.) Those of us who need it even receive encouragement to drop our too-high housekeeping standards.

'Gradually the house regained its normal expression: a look of reasonable order and unprosperous but homely comfort.' 

The WW2 era with its restrictions continues in the background. Father acquires a government job so secret that he can't even allow himself to think about it too loudly. But holding down the home front is his brilliant brood. Mona indulges her new passion for becoming a kitchen goddess, Rush still finds inspiration to compose a stunning sonata even while racing about the district spying on crooks, and Oliver quietly conducts his own private life where butterflies and moths loom large. Observing and appreciating the others with all the energy of her gentle, affectionate heart is the lovely Randy, who can certainly never be accused of taking anything good for granted. 

When Cuffy gets called away for a fortnight to help a convalescing cousin she wonders how they'll ever manage without her. Well may she ask, and the answer to that question comprises a good portion of this book. 

Once again, you must start with The Saturdays, then The Four-Story Mistake, and then you're up to this one. Stay tuned for my discussion of the very last book in this series. 

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