2 Books Like Ladies of Lascaris

This was a rare novel that depicts life in the WRENs in WWII in fictional form but without melodrama or cliches. The author used three women protagonists, each very different and doing different jobs. The Swordfish pilot in the title is important to one of the three female protagonists, but not dominant. In fact the title is moderately misleading. (Probably someone along the way insisted the author's original title wasn't insufficiently "sexy"!) The point is that this book is predominantly about the women and how they cope with challenges, loss, success and grief. It is not a romance, although the young women naturally do have their romantic attachments. The book has a strong authenticity about it, despite some unusual plot twists, that created genuine excitement. All three main characters were engaging and attractive, making me anxious to discover their fate.

I read this book because I knew and respected the author for his academic work on the Crusader States. WWI had never been a topic that particularly grabbed my interest and Australia is a country I've never visited and whose people I don't know. So I was sceptical -- and all the more delighted to be drawn into a world I had not known and to be carried along on a story that I had not chosen but which held my interest because of the power of the author's voice. This is an intelligent, sensitive, and at times lyrical exploration of the "Great War." It shuns cliches, cheap judgments, and melodrama. It traces a single Australian soldier's journey from enthusiastic enlistment through training, battle, boredom, despair, and grief. While some younger readers might find its narrative style "old-fashioned," this allows for profound reflection and the integration of tiny but powerful… show more.