NIGHTINGALE by Fiona McIntosh

If you like popular romantic fiction, you will like this book which will take you from Gallipoli to England to Turkey and to Australia. Fiona's depiction of Gallipoli and the horrors of the Great War from the perspective of an English nurse was mindfully realistic and evocative. It inspired me to watch "Gallipoli" again, the movie which I had seen in the early 80's. Even though the movie was a visual depiction of the same event, it did not match the book in the portrayal of Gallipoli's devastating carnage. I guess this is so because the book was written from the perspective of the medical profession who fought to save shattered lives and bodies. Amidst the  horror of this war, a romance is born for Claire Nightingale, an English nurse and Jamie Wren, an Australian Light Horseman. Even though this story is fictional, it stands as a tribute to many real life romances which no doubt sprang up during the madness of warfare. As the reverence for life ignites the romantic notion between a wounded soldier and his nurse, this book intends to prove that love can defy most dire circumstances and endure across years of separation and uncertainty. The love component of this book, however, went beyond reality for me and I found the ending laced with over-abundance of sugar and spice. The most enjoyable part of the book was getting to know the 'enemy' beyond the ANZAC trenches of Gallipoli and learning about Turkish culture. In the end, we are all just people, with same hopes and desires going through this strange experience called life.

BLOSSOMS AND SHADOWS by Lian Hearn

I couldn't wait to finish this book. Some years ago I stumbled across the Tales of the Otori by Lian Hearn and devoured the whole series of five books. When Blossoms and Shadows came out I bought it immediately and waited for the right time to 'treat' myself with another Lian Hearn delicacy. This book, however, fell well below my expectations. This is a well researched account of 19th century Japan during an exciting chapter of its history when the age of samurai is ending and the country is facing a revolution that would reform its' whole way of life and usher in the birth of modern Japan. The only interesting part of the book however, was an account of a fictional character, a young girl who grows up as an apprentice to her father who is a doctor, and who seeks to break the mould of women's place in Japan's society. Her story, however, gets lost in the inadequate explanation of the intricate political system of the country and overwhelming number of political characters who kept changing their names. This and the Japanese names for political terms without explanation of what they mean really did my head in. I could not keep up with the historical thread of the story and could never work out who was for the reformation and who was against it. This book bored me and made me feel stupid because I could not for the life of me fully understand the process of the revolution. I felt better though when I read some book reviews and discovered that other readers felt the same. I, however, highly recommend the Tales of the Otori series. They will enrich your reading experience a hundred fold.