A chilling account of war
first acoustic collection.
In The Woodshed Sessions we revisit songs which have been regulars in his live performances only they’re stripped back to an acoustic setting, which really works for me. Guitar based but with appropriate highlights from steel and slide playing, piano and harp. All the songs were recorded in one session with no overdubs. It’s a credit to their in sync performance and musicality that The Woodshed Sessions sound so good.
Available on CD and digital.
Swing Fever by Rod Stewart with Jools Holland, Rhino, 4/5
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Sir Rod Stewart blows out 80 candles next year, and he’s already sold more than 120 million records. Together with pianist and TV host Jools Holland he takes us to the big band sounds from a few decades away. It’s a different sound for Rod Stewart, a journey he embarked on because he wanted to do something new. And that’s exactly what Rod, Jools and their Big Band have delivered.
We head back to the Golden Age of Big Band music, with classic songs like Lullaby on Broadway, Sentimental Jourmal, Pennies from Heaven, Night Train, Good Rockin’ Tonight and Ain’t Misbehavin’. This is Rod Stewart as you haven’t heard him before. And the Band is something, lead by by Jools Holland from the piano, the Ryththm and Blues Orchestra is loaded with talent, old and new. Rod Stewart and Jools Holland have curated a stunning selection of American Songbook covers which will no doubt be welcomed by his fans.
— Tony Nielsen
It’s not a given that when a newbie author launches their writing career with a family saga stretching into three parts they will be able to sustain the pace.
But with Karla The Girl With The Red Hair Robert Christensen has cracked the formula.
This is the final book in the series telling the fictionalised life and times of the Jansens from Denmark’s north. Some go on to settle in New Zealand.
Danish Blood was the first in the series which opens in the 1840s and was published in 2022.
The Cousins followed last year. Now with commendable speed Christensen brings us Karla. It picks up where its predecessor left off. In that we learned that in reality Karla is EliseMarie Jensen. Karla is the code name she was given when she became a prime figure in Denmark’s World War I resistance movement.
The war may be over but Karla cannot forgive or forget Jurgen Bauer the Nazi who murdered
Karla The Girl With The Red Hair by Robert Christensen, Your Books, $30
The Women by Kristin Hannah, Macmillan, $37.99
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“Women can be heroes . . . it’s 1966. The whole world is changing.”
These words from her brother’s best friend were the catalyst that led Frankie McGrath to enlist in the Army Nurse Corp (ANC), destination Vietnam.
Frankie believes joining up will change her father’s mind that hero status is reserved for men. It was a common notion of the era.
Her brother is already there on active service, but Frankie’s still in training when the chopper he was in is shot down. There are no remains for his family to bury. Such is the reality of war.
This may be a novel but Hannah’s account of action in Vietnam is startlingly realistic. In places it’s downright horrifying.
Frankie deals with men whose injuries are appalling. On day one she’s handed a boot. The wearer’s foot is lodged inside it.
Hannah’s description of what Frankie and her fellow nurses dealt with is chilling. Equally appalling is the way they were treated on their return home. Despite their courage saving lives while under fire they were not considered returned service personnel. The reason – they’d not served in action. Consequently they were denied the support they so desperately needed. Frankie’s battle with what’s now known as PTSD, her resulting alcoholism and drug use echoes what “real life” ANC nurses endured.
That’s but one strand of this multi-layered story line. There’s romance too. Frankie endures loss and heartbreak. She also experiences the unfaltering bond of female friendship.
This would have been another five-star read from Hannah but what drops it down a notch is its oh so predictable ending. It unnecessarily detracts from what otherwise is a skilful reconstruction of a 20th century war that shamefully has already passed into the mists of time.
Jill Nicholas