Seahawk

by Mary Grant Bruce

The close descendant of Irish and Welsh Australians and the fourth of a family of five, Mary Grant Bruce, born in Gippsland, Victoria as Minnie Grant Bruce, was the daughter of Eyre Lewis Bruce and Mary (Minnie) Atkinson Whittakers. After being educated at Miss Estelle Beausire's Ladies High School, Bruce worked as a secretary before establishing a career as a journalist, poet and writer for Australian magazines. In 1903 she helped form the Writer's Club, which later was submerged into the Lyceum Club. A Little Bush Maid, her first major success, was originally published as a serial in the children's page of the Leader. Its success enabled her to work as a full-time writer and journalist, and spawned the Billabong series. In 1913 Bruce visited London, where she met and became engaged to her distant cousin and fellow writer Major George Evans Bruce. She returned to Australia, where they were married and had two sons, Jonathan and Patrick, and a daughter, Mary, who died shortly after birth. On the outbreak of World War I she stayed in County Cork, Ireland for the duration of the war, while her husband served. Her 1916 novel Jim and Wally contains one of the first accounts of Australian soldiers facing gas attacks on the Western Front. Once peace was declared, they returned to Australia, where she briefly acted as the editor of Women's World. From 1927 to 1939, and following the death of her younger son in a shooting accident, Bruce, her husband and their surviving child, Jonathan, travelled in Europe, before returning yet again to Australia. During World War II, Bruce worked for the Australian Imperial Force Women's Association. Following her husband's death in 1949, Bruce returned for the last time to England, to spend the rest of her life there. She died in Bexhill and was cremated at Hastings. Maurice Saxby, "the doyen of critical commentators on Australian Children's Literature" said that "what Ethel Turner did for the city family, Mary Grant Bruce did for the bush family." An English designer of warplanes, concerned that Australian pilots would be too tall to fit in the cockpits, asked his daughter for the heights of Bruce's characters Jim Linton and Wally Meadows.

Unknown Binding

About the author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Gra...

Reviews

[E. Joy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book, but it felt like an Australian Enid Blyton story. Better done, though. I felt the characters were a lot more true to life. It was more realistic than Enid Blyton's plots, as well.
I didn't like Mary Grant Bruce constantly pushing that Jill had to be "as good as a boy" to keep up with her twin, Derek. Not really a fan, but it doesn't get in the way of the story.
A fun tale recommended for adventure fans, and smuggling, Enid Blyton.

[Nicola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bear with me... it's 20 years since I read this!

Seahawk is a fine example of the early C20th Adventurous Children genre. It features all your favourite plot elements: twins playing 'mistaken identity' tricks on grown-ups; pre-teens on an unsupervised camping trip; a spot of crime solving; lots of bush survival skills; and secret caves. I'm sure I remember bottles of lemonade, too.

Very highly recommended for fans of Mary Grant Bruce, for young readers who enjoy adventures, and in particular for Australian children. I remember being excited by the familiar landscape of this novel in a literary world otherwise populated by English forests and American prairies.