Lucky Newman

by Carl Nixon

Der dritte Roman von Carl Nixon führt weit in der Zeit zurück: zu einem Maimorgen im Jahr 1919, an dem die Krankenschwester Elizabeth Whitman auf dem Weg zu ihrer Arbeit ist. Ein Wagen hält neben ihr, und der Fahrer überreicht ihr einen Brief, der ihr Leben verändern wird. Zu der Zeit wohnt sie mit ihrem 4jährigen Sohn Jack äußerst beengt bei ihren Eltern; Jacks Vater, den sie während des Kriegs in London geheiratet hat, wird seit zwei Jahren vermißt. Der Brief enthält das Angebot, einen sehr wohlhabenden Mann zu pflegen, der mit einer Kopfverletzung aus dem Krieg zurückgekehrt ist; sie zögert lange, als sie erkennt, um welche Verletzung es sich handelt: Paul Blackwell hat sein Gedächtnis verloren, weiß nicht, wer oder wo er ist. Langsam, ganz langsam gewinnt sie sein Vertrauen, vor allem dadurch, daß sie ihm Geschichten erzählt. Und sie erzählt ihrem Sohn eine Geschichte, ein Märchen besser: Der Ballonfahrer. Es handelt von einem Mann, der in exotischen Ländern wilde Abenteuer erlebt – und der nicht wiederkehren wird. Durch die Kraft der Erzählung soll ihr Sohn den Verlust vermittelt bekommen, vielleicht ist das für ihn leichter zu ertragen als die harten Fakten.

Der Roman zeigt, was Geschichten vermögen, und beginnt mit derjenigen eines alten Mannes, der Carl Nixon bittet, seine Geschichte aufzuschreiben, beziehungsweise die seiner Eltern: Elizabeth Whitman und Lucky Newman.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club

280 pages, Hardcover

First published September 6, 2013

About the author

Carl Nixon is a playwright, a short story writer and a novelist. He has written original plays and has adapted Lloyd Jones’ novel The Book of Fame and JM Coetzee's Disgrace.

Born in Christchurch, Nixon graduated with a Masters degree in Religious Studies from Canterbury University. He briefly taught secondary school English before leaving to teach in Japan for two years.

He has won numerous awards for his fiction, including winning and being nominated for key short story competitions.

Nixon was the Ursula Bethell/Creative New Zealand Writer in Residence at Canterbury University in 2006, where he completed his first novel, Rocking Horse Road. He has also written numerous plays for children.

2017 recipient of the Mansfield Menton Fellowship, with a sum of $35,000 to cover the time in Menton, France.

Reviews

[Berengaria]

3.5 stars
(Original English title: The Virgin and the Whale )

short review for busy readers: a historical, journalistic novel based entirely on a highly unlikely, but true story. Carl Nixon reconstructs how a nurse and a man who lost his memory in WW1 fell in love. It’s not romantic, but a story of friendship and understanding that goes right to the heart of what brings people together. A quiet tale that impresses. Fast read.

in detail:
New Zealand, 1919. Elizabeth, a well-respected nurse with experience caring for handicapped veterans of the First World War is hired for a rather unusual job. She is to privately care for a man – Paul Blackwell -- who came back from the war in a state of severe agitation.

He claims he isn’t Paul Blackwell, but a man by the name of Lucky. His wife is at her wits ends and only wants him to remember who he is and be her husband again.

What happened to Lucky: a shard of bone imbedded itself in his brain, severely damaging the part that stores memories. As far as Lucky knows, he was born in a trench buried up to his neck in mud and surrounded by dead men. He stayed there for almost a day and a half before he was found and dug out by a troop of Australian soldiers who noticed he was still alive.

“You’re lucky,” one of them said…and he believed it to be his name.

Lucky doesn’t have amnesia. His ability to remember anything prior to the accident has completely been wiped, never to be regained. And yet he went on to marry and have children.

How do you go about telling as story like that?

Carl Nixon takes us along on the journey, telling us what he knows for sure from letters, diary entries and the memories of Paul and Elizabeth’s son, and where he’s filling in the gaps with writerly invention.

This makes the story very meta, that is, it’s very conscious that it’s a (re)constructed story and doesn’t ask for the suspension of disbelief.

Although it’s sold as a love story – and it is the story of two people coming to love each other deeply – it’s not in the least bit romantic. There’s no hearts and flowers or sentimental goop, just a calm sense that two people who understand each other have found each other.

In that sense, it’s highly readable for those readers, like me, who do not enjoy romances.

“The Virgin and the Whale” is a quiet, but highly engaging story with a reasonably fast pace. The New Zealand of 1919 and the early 1920s comes alive in the descriptions and series of events. It’s well-written and interesting from a number of angles – especially the medical and legal standards of the time – and an excellent example of a successful journalistic novel.

[Angelique Simonsen]

I would have to say that this unassuming, nothing special looking book is the BOOK OF JANUARY 2019 for me!
I was engrossed in the story being familiar with the setting, even with the name changes. The fact that it was based on a true story also endeared it to me but what sold it was THE BEST WRITING EVER! Loved the style in which it was written. Sorry to have gushed but this one is going to stick with me for a bit I think.
Bookhangover!!!

[Emma]

loved the Christchurch references and since it's a true story we're still trying to work out who it is!

[Erica]

I found this story utterly compelling - if I'd read it at the weekend I probably would have devoured it in one go. I think Carl Nixon also did a great job on the sections on story writing/telling - this is a tricky technique but when done well really adds something to the theme. Highly recommend

[Buchdoktor]

Carl Nixon erzählt von einem Autor, der den Auftrag erhält, die Geschichte von drei Personen niederzuschreiben, die auf unterschiedliche Art vom Grauen des Ersten Weltkriegs betroffen sind.

Die australische Krankenschwester Elizabeth ernährt 1920 und in den folgenden Jahren sich und ihren kleinen Sohn Jack; denn ihr Mann ist im Krieg vermisst und sein Schicksal bisher ungeklärt. Lucky Newman ist ihr Patient, der an den körperlichen Folgen einer schweren Kopfverletzung leidet und zugleich an der Traumatisierung im Schützengraben. Der vierjährige Jack würde sicherlich wissen wollen, ob sein Vater evtl. irgendwo verwundet oder gefangen genommen wurde und er vielleicht doch noch auf dessen Rückkehr hoffen kann. Elizabeths und Jacks gemeinsame Sprache bildet die Geschichte vom Ballonfahrer, die die Mutter ihrem kleinen Sohn in Fortsetzungen erzählt.

Die Ereignisse haben auf mich streckenweise grotesk gewirkt durch die Hilflosigkeit, mit der Laien und Mediziner in ihrer für die damalige Zeit typischen Ahnungslosigkeit über Posttraumatische Belastungsstörungen mit Luckys Kriegstrauma umgehen. Elizabeth scheint die einzig vernünftige Person weit und breit zu sein, die Lucky als Mensch wahrnimmt, egal, ob er nun an den Folgen einer Kopfverletzung leidet, an einer psychischen Krankheit oder an beidem. Der deutsche Text wirkt teils holprig. Möglich, dass er es im Vergleich zum Original ist, ebenso möglich, dass diese Wirkung zusammen mit der Rahmenhandlung des Auftragsschreibers vom Autor so beabsichtigt ist. Ein inhaltlich ungewöhnliches Buch, auch äußerlich beeindruckend mit seinem illustrierten Buchdeckel.

4 1/2 von 5 Sternen

[Anne]

I picked this up on Saturday morning and the only reason I briefly stopped reading was because I didn't want it to end. I've read and enjoyed Carl Nixon's other titles but this was in a different league.

The Virgin and the Whale appealed to me on so many levels:
1. The aftermath of WW1
2. NZ setting
3. Fictional telling of a true story
4. Two strong females and the different ways they looked at and dealt with life
5. Comment on the class system, early psychiatry, museums, war, attitudes to the injured and ill
6. Storytelling

What I wasn't expecting and what really made this an exceptional read was how Carl Nixon spoke directly to the reader and involved us in the writing. By introducing us to his introduction to the story and pondering how to tell it all the way through from how to begin to how to end. This gave us intimacy. An exceptional read.

[Nic Ayson]

This read quickly progressed from being a uninspired book club read to a charming little surprise of a novel. Nixon's storytelling is lovely - the blend between his introductory chapter and little sub narration on how he is going to tell is story is woven delicately between a tale that is based on real life events.
Somewhat sorrowful, the main story is of a nurse in a little NZ town who cares for a returning soldier who has suffered an acute head injury during World War One. Entwined through this tale is the fairytale, storytelling that brings the history of events together as one. This unique combination is pulled off beautifully and the result is a read that leaves you feeling pensive and questioning over the fate of patients that don't ever have a batter in their corner...

[Monique Engelen]

Lovely book, a lot of clever writing techniques employed in here. Quite refreshing to read, but I was quite distracted by the writing style. Felt a bit light but lovely read nonetheless.

[Elizabeth Heritage]

Originally posted on http://booksellersnz.wordpress.com/

I get it: books don't just happen. A novel is a collection of words actively written by a person, it is a writer's deliberate construction of images and tales, places and emotions. Plot, world-building, style and characterisation are the results of thousands of decisions made by an author, decisions that are weighed up with an editor and often revised before being stilled in print.

I know this, but I don't want to be reminded. I want the act of reading to take me to an exclusive truth the author has created; I want to be lulled and excited by thoughts that my brain hasn't experienced before. I want to be able to fall into the book's world without seeing the scaffolding - the discarded false starts, the second thoughts, the stutterings of the author's voice. As a publisher, I understand that those things all happen; as a reader, I want them to be cleared away before I arrive; I want the world of the novel to be fresh and whole.

Carl Nixon has no such mercy. Right from the beginning he makes the acts of writing and of storytelling take centre stage, constantly pushing you out of the world of the novel he's created and back into your own head, talking about how he came to write the book, what he's chosen to include and exclude, how he thinks the writing is going, what he thinks you might be thinking.

It's annoying; viscerally so. Oftentimes I actually shouted at him, get out of the way of the book! The torture of it is that the central story he's nominally telling is wonderfully dramatic; engaging and gracefully told with warm, complex characters. A man has returned to New Zealand from the Great War with a head wound, remembering nothing from before the explosion in the trenches. Gradually he is nursed back to health and a love story develops as he rebuilds his own identity. It is an extraordinary thought experiment, to try and write your way into the mind of an adult with only a few months’-worth of memories, and Nixon succeeds superbly. He paints a compelling portrait of a deeply wounded man and, in so doing, illustrates the fundamental importance of memory in the construction of personality, of humanity.

One of the basic ways in which the man reconstructs himself is through story - and this, I think, is Nixon's main point. We are always telling stories, turning memories into narratives in our brains. The man's tale is hedged about with other stories: his nurse Elizabeth Whitman tells her son - now missing a father - a series of tales about The Balloonist, a man who left his family in a hot air balloon for exotic, wild adventures (reminding me of the 2006 film The Fall). At one point, a character within one of those tales tells The Balloonist a story...and so on. The arcs of tale-telling spiral outwards as well: The Virgin and the Whale begins with a note from Nixon claiming that the story of the man with no memory is true, and was told to him by the man's son, who insisted that Nixon construct a fiction from it. Because this was at the beginning of the book, I believed it: I no longer do so.

Once Nixon makes you start looking for layers of story in The Virgin and the Whale, you can't stop: on the back cover we have the publishers' story about the book: "A touching, clever novel about stories, about using them to create your own identity, and about the way they can forge bonds of love." And of course I have just added a stratum of my own in the form of this review.

It's not the layering itself that I mind - inspired by the recent, excellent film, I have just re-read the wonderful Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones, which also focuses on the power of story as a constructor of identity, also uses layers of storytelling to give itself weight and resonance. What irritated me about The Virgin and the Whale was the pompous, rather whiny voice Nixon adopts when commenting on his own writing. On p. 13: “How to begin?...what inky scratchings will lead the argosy of dark shapes on their way, bobbing in military rows across the calm pale oceans bordered by these covers?” (I had to look up argosy: it means fleet, or opulent supply.) Later, on p. 93, he addresses me directly: “Perhaps some earnest book reviewer is scribbling in the margin of his or her uncorrected proof copy, ‘Too much suspension of disbelief required’.” No: too much author-swatting required.

Despite Nixon's undoubted talent, I ultimately found The Virgin and the Whale frustrating. I am left with the irrational feeling that the chapters comprising Nixon's worries about how the book is going have somehow cheated me out of chapters spent exploring the central love story. Because Nixon has drawn my reluctant attention to the book-making process, I end up telling myself the story that these imagined chapters do exist somehow, forlorn on the cutting-room floor. Perhaps some earnest novelist will restore them.

[Sonya]

I could not put this book down. It was so well written and the characters were so realistic and I continued to think about them when I wasn't reading. A great fictional account of a true story. Would recommend to anyone who wants to be carried away on a good story.

[Hannah]

Loved this, I couldn't wait for my next chance to read some more. Such a beautiful story. I don't know if this really is based on a true story or not, I really hope it is. Highly recommend.

[Sandy Hastings]

A real gem. Loved that I could identify the places referred to in Christchurch. A very unusual style of storytelling which grew on me more and more as the story progressed.

[Carolyn]

The introduction to the novel tells us that this is based on a true story of a woman 'who fell in love with a man with no memory'. Intriguing! Apparently the story was told to the author by the son of the woman in question, whom Nixon calls Elizabeth. After World War One she is left with her husband'Missing Presumed Dead'. She is a nurse and must work to support herself and her young son. When she is asked to be a private nurse to a man who has lost his memory after a traumatic head wound, she sets out on a path that will change her life.

What I liked most about this novel was its structure. Nixon has been clever in constructing stories within stories (for example, Elizabeth tells her son the fabulous tale of The Balloonist, in an attempt to explain the absence of his father). This made for regular changes of pace and emotion. What I liked least was the rather cosy tone that Nixon chooses to adopt, regularly addressing the reader directly - a stylistic device I find rather irritating.

Nonetheless, the story itself is remarkable and Elizabeth is a memorable character.

[Diane]

It would appear I'm not interested in stories where the author intrudes and 'breaks the fourth wall' so often. Also, I assume the whole story is metafiction, the so called 'real' story, that swallows the actual fiction. And then there's the 'fairy' story which is swamped with symbolism. The story of Elizabeth's war (WWI) and then having a son born just at the right time to be killed in WWII must have been echoed over and over in every country that was involved in WWI. I liked Elizabeth and Lucky and their story. I mostly got some symbolism from the fossils and Christchurch's social bigotry. I still don't understand why it had to have a name change. Weird. I just wish the story had been written with less author embellishment and intrusion.

[Becks]

I really enjoyed the way this was written, the way the author jumps in and out of the narrative, Elizabeth's own bedtime story with her son. I wish her story of the Balloonist, the Tiger, the Whale and the Moon Virgin was published also... Who knows maybe it will be one day ;)

[LadyDisdain]

From Lady Disdain Notes

“How to begin?

It is a perennial problem. Ever since the first campfires struggled to keep the clawed shadows of the forest at bay, storytellers have grappled with what combination of sound and meaning to set loose among the dancing firelight. Which words should be cast towards expectant faces?” (Chapter 1)

Sometimes you read a book that seems to pulse with life, and it pulses a little louder than others.

I’ve had a lot of free time over the past few months, and have spent much of it trudging to and from the library with an aching armload of books. I also started working at a book/gift store, and have been able to get my hands on a lot of reading copies of books. I’ve been doing a lot of reading.

But through all that reading this book manages to shine a little bit brighter in my mind than the others.

Carl Nixon tackles the expansive and ever-present theme of story-telling and the effect of words on life. It’s a tried and true tale. People love reading stories about how stories are powerful. People love reading about how stories affect the course of a life.

The Virgin & the Whale is unabashed in its praise of stories. It’s a story framed within a story – it leads you into the tale as if you were a child sitting at Nixon’s foot, well aware of the world he is about to weave, but happy to fall into it, anyway. It’s a concept that could have easily stumbled into the trite end of the spectrum, but doesn’t.

“My mother fell deeply in love with a man who had no memory.”

The novel is set in a small country in the Pacific South West in the early twentieth century – though it’s given a different name, it becomes clear that the country in question is New Zealand. Nixon disguises the landmarks and the characters with aliases. It becomes apparent as the novel progresses, that while the story is packaged with all the tapestries of fiction, it is in fact based on a true story. Maybe that’s why it resonates so well, though that is not the only reason.

Elizabeth Whitman, a nurse, is requested to undertake into her private care a soldier recently returned from war, with severe injuries and no memory of his identity. At the same time, Elizabeth is dealing with the fact that her husband is missing in the war, and, in order to keep up the spirits of her young son, Jack, she comes up with stories to tell him each night. Stories that bring comfort to both of them, stories that might help to ease the pain that would come if their worst doubts become reality.

“. . . she has, slowly, hesitantly at first, unsure if she is doing the right thing, but then with growing confidence, begun filling the emptiness with a story.” (Chapter 12)

Elizabeth decides to try the same method on the injured soldier, coaxing him out of his isolation with words. The words are not only a bridge between the two of them, but also one that gives the soldier a connection to this new blank reality.

Unable to dredge up any memory of his past, the soldier finds solace in building a new identity for himself, a new life. Of course, this comes at the expense of renouncing all those who inhabited his old life – his wife, Mrs. Blackwell, their old acquaintances – all of whom he can no longer remember, and thus, none whom he can claim. With words, he’s able to take back some of his power – but it’s a power that devastates his family and friends from his ‘past’ life. Nixon reveals how words have the power to create and sustain new life, but he doesn’t shy away from the fact that in building new worlds, we can sometimes choose to abandon the old ones.

“If Self is inextricably linked to the brain and the memories it holds, then what can be said of a man who has been left with his body intact but a brain as blank as a fresh fall of snow?” (Chapter 11)

I saw a post on tumblr recently that mentioned how someone might draw conclusions on your personality based on an act of yours that you might have forgotten - an act that acutely reveals your character. Thus, that someone will walk around knowing about a part of you that you don’t, because it’s no longer part of your memory. They possess a part of your identity that you didn’t even know you had.

It’s quite a chilling thought. I think we all like to pretend that we know the essential things about ourselves, but perhaps, an act that seems minute to us, might be momentous to another person, one on which they base their whole understanding of you. Even a small memory that is lost means an aspect of our identity that is lost.

Nixon carves the story so that it ends on an optimistic note – it is the bravery of Elizabeth, and the bravery of her memory-less soldier that is emphasized. It is the bravery of the two of them, who choose to embark on a new life together, based on their faith in their own exchanges, that ultimately resonates.

I know I’m not doing this book justice. Just know that if you read it, you will not be disappointed.

[Nicola]

A charmingly sweet love story set in New Zealand after World War I. I didn't expect too much from this and was pleasantly surprised.

[Jean Potter]

So glad I found this author! Great plots and easy to read. This one has an interesting style of story telling.

[Inger]

Interesting, curious, clever, different, enjoyable and well worth reading

[Fiona R]

DNF

[Ro Hart]

What a little treasure this book was.

[Abbey Wilson]

Loved this partly because it was set in the city I live in. The writing style is a little quirky.

[Ellen]

This book became much better as time passed following my finishing it. It could have easily (or better) been called The Book of Stories. The telling of stories put her child to sleep, healed a friend, created more stories, and entertained others. They are powerful forces in people’s lives. The book created interesting concepts for me, but I didn’t think it was well written.

[Jürgen Zeller]

Das schöne Cover und der verführerische Klappentext haben mich zum Kauf dieses Buches bewogen. Zur Abwechslung mal ein Roman von einem Kleinverlag. Der stattliche Preis für die 280 Seiten hat mich nicht abgeschreckt, zu neugierig war ich auf den vielversprechenden Inhalt. Der Schriftsteller Carl Nixon erzählt in diesem Buch die Geschichte der Krankenschwester Elizabeth Whitman die in der neuseeländischen Kleinstadt Mansfield wohnt und ihren Dienst verrichtet. Im Jahre 1919 kümmert sie sich Hauptsächlich um die Versehrten des 1. Weltkrieges die von der Front eine halbe Weltreise um die Erdkugel zurück in ihre Heimat durften und dort (weiter-) behandelt werden. Elizabeth war während dem Krieg selbst in Europa und hat sich dort im Lazarett um Verletzte gekümmert. Da hat sie den Soldaten Jonathan kennengelernt den sie im Militärspital gepflegt und sich prompt in ihn verliebt hat. Die beiden haben noch in Europa während der Kriegswirren geheiratet. Jonathan wurde nach seiner Genesung wieder auf das Schlachtfeld beordert und gilt seit einem Manövereinsatz seit Monaten als vermisst. Elizabeth kehrt nach bangen Wochen des Wartens schliesslich nach Neuseeland zurück. Im Bauch ein Vermächtnis ihres verschollenen Gatten ... ihr Sohn Jack wird geboren.

Elizabeth lebt mit Jack und ihren Eltern in einfachen Verhältnissen und so kommt ein finanziell lukratives Angebot der reichen Mrs. Blackwell gerade recht. Elizabeth soll sich ausschliesslich um Paul Blackwell kümmern der auch im Krieg war und dort bei einem schrecklichen Feuergefecht eine Kopfverletzung erlitten und sein Gedächtnis verloren hat. Seit er wieder in seinem Haus und seiner Frau ist verhält er sich aggressiv und renitent. Elizabeth gelingt es tatsächlich Pauls harte Schale aufzubrechen und langsam zu seinem neuen Ich bzw. seiner Persönlichkeit vorzudringen. Das Erzählen erfundener Geschichten aber auch das gegenseitige Auseinandersetzen mit der Wahrheit spielen in diesem Prozess um Vertrauensgewinn und Umgang mit der Vergangenheit und der Zukunft eine wichtige Rolle.

Stilistisch und inhaltlich ist dieses Buch höchst ungewöhnlich und dieses atypische Schreiben und Gliedern des Textes dürfte die Leserschaft in ihrer Meinung spalten. So wendet sich der Autor Carl Nixon mehrfach an den Leser und spricht ihn direkt an. Wieso, warum, weshalb er dies so erzählt, es aber auch anders möglich gewesen wäre. Zudem kommt es mir vor, als hätte der Verlag hier nicht die Endfassung gedruckt sondern ein Mittelding in dem die Geschichten irgendwo zwischen Rohfassung und finalem Endprodukt liegen. Ich bin zwar nur ein einfacher Leser aber ich bin der Meinung, hier hätte man noch einiges feilen und schleifen können bis die Geschmeidigkeit eines handelsüblichen Romans erreicht wird. Aber vielleicht macht auch genau der Mut zur Unperfektion den Charme dieser Geschichten aus. Perfektion hat definitiv ihre Reize, kann aber ein stückweit langweilig sein. (Muss es aber nicht) Die welligen Unebenheiten, die erzählerischen Dornen die über den Rand herausragen, vielleicht gar literarische Holperer die man hätte ausmerzen können machen dieses Buch für mich zu etwas ganz Besonderem. Es ist anders als gewohnt, aber gut.

Warum in diesem Buch ein Ballonfahrer, ein majestätischer Tiger und schlussendlich sogar ein riesiger Blauwal und eine Mondjungfrau eine Rolle spielen müsst ihr selbst herausfinden. Mir jedenfalls hat das Lesen dieses ungewöhnlichen Romans enorm viel Spass bereitet, es hat mir sehr gut gefallen und mich berührt. Vielleicht auch weil es endet wie es eben endet. Ich werde deshalb großzügig über kleinere Makel hinwegsehen und fünf Sterne vergeben.

[Kiwiflora]

How appropriate to read this in the year of the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI. And such a great tribute to the ordinary people - the survivors of the fighting, their families and the people who worked hard to rehabilitate them. This is a really good story, in fact it is several stories really, and centers itself around the power of memory in narrating those stories. Not just the stories we tell each other, but as Oliver Sacks puts it in an opening quote - our 'inner narrative', our own personal story.



Set in 1919, in the city of Mansfield, (very recognisable as Christchurch, NZ), Elizabeth Whitman is a very capable nurse who has worked with injured soldiers, injuries of both physical and mental nature. She has a husband, presumed missing, and a four year old son. She lives with her parents in some sort of limbo zone, unsure of how to proceed with her life. Lucky is one such very damaged soldier who she finds herself assigned to look after and try to discover what, if anything, can be done to fix him. It becomes very quickly apparent that all of his memories prior to a head injury he received while in the trenches have been completely obliterated. Elizabeth realises this fairly quickly, but has considerable trouble convincing Lucky's wife and medical team that this is the problem, and that he is not schizophrenic needing to be locked up.

Alongside the stories of these two people, Elizabeth is narrating to her young son the story of the Virgin and the Whale, the lead character being the Balloonist, supposedly representing the missing husband and father. How else do you explain to a four year old that no one knows where Daddy is. Nothing like a bit of magic.

Yet another story comes out of this. The author himself, also takes on the role of story teller. He opens his novel with the story of how this story came to be. He was approached by the son of Elizabeth, with the very attention getting line, 'My mother fell in love with a man who had no memory'. The author tantalises us with whether this could be true or not, and in the end it does not really matter. Because the story he weaves between the chapters set in 1919 keeps our own thought processes alive and engaged, and the hold that memory has in our own understanding of ourselves.

[Sarah]

Why doesn't goodreads have half stars? This is a 4 and a half star for me. I reserved it at the library and received it around ANZAC day, which seemed to me the perfect time to be reading a book set during and just after WWI, at a time when I've been reflecting on my own grandfather's experiences at Gallipoli, and also hearing of the experiences of Archie Baxter, a NZ conscientious objector who was sent to the Western Front and ended up as a stretcher bearer after refusing to back down from his beliefs. Archie Baxter's story is indeed mentioned (without his name being mentioned) in the Virgin and the Whale.

This book is based on the true story of Elizabeth a nurse, who having served in hospitals in England during WWI is back in NZ with her young son and husband "missing in action". Elizabeth refuses to believe he is dead and tells her young son Jack wonderful tales of his father as a balloonist who sets out on an adventure. Meanwhile in her real life Elizabeth is asked to nurse a returned WWI soldier who has lost his memory through a head injury and whom she eventually falls in love with.

This is a beautifully and somewhat unconventionally written book. Highly recommended.

[Felicity]

I enjoyed this book however felt that the use of alternative names for Christchurch locations created an unreality for me. Was there any need to change the names? As a result while i enjoyed the story it didn't completely ring true for me and I felt that it was in fact a story rather than the telling of a true experience.

[Margaret]

I almost gave this a 5. A very mobing story with the light relief of The Balloon Man story. An easy to read book well written.

[Julie James]

Great story! Quirky and different but very engaging. Loved it had some basis on a real story.

[Chris Roan]

Best ever. Even john liked it