Expected publication: out now
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2
Book Description:
1954: When sixteen–year–old Hungarian Elizabeta arrives in
Australia with her family, she is hoping to escape the hopelessness of life as
a refugee in post–war Germany. Her first stop is the Bonegilla Migrant Camp on
the banks of the Murray in rural Victoria, a temporary home for thousands of
new arrivals, all looking for work and a better life. There, Elizabeta becomes
firm friends with the feisty Greek Vasiliki; quiet Italian Iliana; and the
adventurous Frances, the daughter of the camp's director.
In this vibrant and growing country, the Bonegilla girls rush together towards a life that seems full of promise, even as they cope with the legacy of war, the oppressive nature of family tradition and ever–present sorrow. So when a ghost from the past reaches out for Elizabeta and threatens to pull her back into the shadows, there is nothing that her friends wouldn't do to keep her safe.
But secrets have a way of making themselves known and lies have a way of changing everything they touch...
My musings:
Bonegilla, a migrant processing and reception centre in
north-eastern Victoria, was the first port of call for more than 320,000
migrants looking for a new start in Australia in the post-war years, including
the author’s own grandparents, who arrived there in 1954 from Germany with
their five children in tow. With families from all over the world passing
through its gates, the centre became a place of multi-culturalism, with many
different languages spoken. There was one thing everyone coming to Bonegilla
had in common – they were looking for a fresh start, a better life in a world
far away from home. With its history so close to her heart, the author made
this interesting historical place the setting of her latest novel, which
follows the life of four young women from four different cultures, who forged a
firm friendship whilst staying at Bonegilla, which would last a lifetime and
see them through many turbulent times in their lives. It is, in its essence, a
celebration of Australia’s multi-cultural history, of love, friendship,
tolerance and building bridges. Set from the 1950’s to today, it spans a
lifetime and covers a chapter in Australian history that is not often explored
in novels.
Being a migrant myself, I found many of the topics Burman
explores in her novel especially close to my heart. However, whilst my choice to
emigrate was propelled by love, many of the migrants coming to Australia after
the war were displaced persons, people who had lost their homes through
conflict and had been through unspeakable trauma. Arriving by ship from the
other side of the world, they did not know if they would ever be able to see
their loved ones again, the friends and family left behind in their “old
country”. The four women in this novel are all in their teens when they arrive
at Bonegilla with their parents. Vasiliki from Greece, Elizabeta from Germany,
Iliana from Italy and Frances, who is the only Australian and whose father is
Bonegilla’s new camp director. The girls first come together through an
unfortunate incident with a soccer ball, which will be the start of a life-long
friendship. With four protagonists from very different backgrounds and
personalities, Burman not only explores the topic of migration and
multi-culturalism, but also the realities of womanhood in the post war era.
Whilst some issues the “girls” encounter along the way may be shaped by their
culture, such as Vasiliki having to marry a Greek man chosen by her parents,
other events are universal to women everywhere. Falling in love, marriage,
children, divorce, work, illness, looking after sick elderly parents etc, all
of life’s milestone feature in this bittersweet coming-of-age novel that will
have you laugh and cry in turn as events unfold.
The one difficulty with having multiple main protagonists
over a long time-span (a lifetime) is that there are not enough pages in a book
to fully explore each of the characters’ fate or go too deep. Instead, we get
glimpses into each of the women’s lives at various turning-points in the years
after leaving Bonegilla. As commonly encountered, I felt more invested in some
characters over others, and found myself wanting to find out more details about
their individual fates – questions that plagued me long after turning the last
page. Burman does a great job in evoking the post-war era, when women were not
yet free to make their own choices, and of the price they often had to pay –
which was a prominent theme in each character’s life and made me reflect on how
times have changed for the better. I loved how the four friends were able to
overcome their differences to form such deep and loyal friendships in an era
when multi-culturalism was a relatively new concept, which was very moving and
inspiring and gives hope for a better future.
This is my first book by the author and I really enjoyed
this glimpse into a chapter of Australian history we normally hear little
about. In a previous job, I was privileged to get to hear many real-life
accounts of displaced persons coming to Australia to start a new life, and
their experiences closely matched many of the sentiments described in Burman’s novel
– I thought at the time that “someone should write a book about that”, and was
thrilled to find that someone has! The Last of the Bonegilla Girls is an insightful,
uplifting and feel-good book that I recommend to all lovers of Australian
historical fiction.
Thank
you so much to Harlequin Australia for sending me a copy of this gorgeous book and
for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.
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