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The Widow and her Hero
In 1943, when Grace and Leo Waterhouse married in Australia, they were part of a young generation ready to sacrifice themselves to win the war, while being confident they would survive. Sixty years on, as Grace recounts what happened to her doomed hero, she can say what she suspected that for many men, bravery is its own end. The tale she tells is one of great love, lost innocence, a charismatic but unstable Irish commander, dashing undercover missions against the Japanese in Singapore, and - in her eyes - reckless, foolhardy exploits. As fresh details continue to emerge, Grace is forced to keep revising her picture of what happened to Leo and his fellow commandoes - until she learns about the final piece in the jigsaw, and an ultimate betrayal. As absorbing as it is thought-provoking, this timely novel poses unsettling questions about what drives men to battle and heroic deeds, and movingly conveys the life-long effect on those who survive them.
274 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Thomas Keneally
117 books1,381 followersThomas Michael Keneally, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982, which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor. The book would later be adapted to Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List (1993), which won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Often published under the name Tom Keneally in Australia.
Life and Career:
Born in Sydney, Keneally was educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield, where a writing prize was named after him. He entered St Patrick's Seminary, Manly to train as a Catholic priest but left before his ordination. He worked as a Sydney schoolteacher before his success as a novelist, and he was a lecturer at the University of New England (1968–70). He has also written screenplays, memoirs and non-fiction books.
Keneally was known as "Mick" until 1964 but began using the name Thomas when he started publishing, after advice from his publisher to use what was really his first name. He is most famous for his Schindler's Ark (1982) (later republished as Schindler's List), which won the Booker Prize and is the basis of the film Schindler's List (1993). Many of his novels are reworkings of historical material, although modern in their psychology and style.
Keneally has also acted in a handful of films. He had a small role in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (based on his novel) and played Father Marshall in the Fred Schepisi movie, The Devil's Playground (1976) (not to be confused with a similarly-titled documentary by Lucy Walker about the Amish rite of passage called rumspringa).
In 1983, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He is an Australian Living Treasure.
He is a strong advocate of the Australian republic, meaning the severing of all ties with the British monarchy, and published a book on the subject in Our Republic (1993). Several of his Republican essays appear on the web site of the Australian Republican Movement.
Keneally is a keen supporter of rugby league football, in particular the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club of the NRL. He made an appearance in the rugby league drama film The Final Winter (2007).
In March 2009, the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, gave an autographed copy of Keneally's Lincoln biography to President Barack Obama as a state gift.
Most recently Thomas Keneally featured as a writer in the critically acclaimed Australian drama, Our Sunburnt Country.
Thomas Keneally's nephew Ben is married to the former NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally.
Often published under the name Tom Keneally in Australia.
Life and Career:
Born in Sydney, Keneally was educated at St Patrick's College, Strathfield, where a writing prize was named after him. He entered St Patrick's Seminary, Manly to train as a Catholic priest but left before his ordination. He worked as a Sydney schoolteacher before his success as a novelist, and he was a lecturer at the University of New England (1968–70). He has also written screenplays, memoirs and non-fiction books.
Keneally was known as "Mick" until 1964 but began using the name Thomas when he started publishing, after advice from his publisher to use what was really his first name. He is most famous for his Schindler's Ark (1982) (later republished as Schindler's List), which won the Booker Prize and is the basis of the film Schindler's List (1993). Many of his novels are reworkings of historical material, although modern in their psychology and style.
Keneally has also acted in a handful of films. He had a small role in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (based on his novel) and played Father Marshall in the Fred Schepisi movie, The Devil's Playground (1976) (not to be confused with a similarly-titled documentary by Lucy Walker about the Amish rite of passage called rumspringa).
In 1983, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). He is an Australian Living Treasure.
He is a strong advocate of the Australian republic, meaning the severing of all ties with the British monarchy, and published a book on the subject in Our Republic (1993). Several of his Republican essays appear on the web site of the Australian Republican Movement.
Keneally is a keen supporter of rugby league football, in particular the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles club of the NRL. He made an appearance in the rugby league drama film The Final Winter (2007).
In March 2009, the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, gave an autographed copy of Keneally's Lincoln biography to President Barack Obama as a state gift.
Most recently Thomas Keneally featured as a writer in the critically acclaimed Australian drama, Our Sunburnt Country.
Thomas Keneally's nephew Ben is married to the former NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
December 3, 2018
This is not the kind of book I would normally read - I prefer to avoid stories of war heroism and derring-do, but I am glad I made an exception for this, since Keneally's approach is brilliantly nuanced and full of moral ambiguity.
The central story is largely based on fact - there were two Australian raids on Japanese held Singapore, and the second ended disastrously for the men involved. Keneally's masterstroke is to tell their story through the voice of a widow, who barely knew her young husband, but finds out more of his story piecemeal over the next 60 years. Perhaps the idea of the captured men awaiting execution filling their time rehearsing Shaw's The Devil's Disciple is a little fanciful, but this is a very moving story.
The central story is largely based on fact - there were two Australian raids on Japanese held Singapore, and the second ended disastrously for the men involved. Keneally's masterstroke is to tell their story through the voice of a widow, who barely knew her young husband, but finds out more of his story piecemeal over the next 60 years. Perhaps the idea of the captured men awaiting execution filling their time rehearsing Shaw's The Devil's Disciple is a little fanciful, but this is a very moving story.
February 7, 2021
From the beginning, we know the hero, Australian Captain Leo Waterhouse, was killed as a result of a clandestine raid during WWII. His widow, Grace, tells the story of what happened to her husband and how she dealt with it, over a period of time covering the 1940s to 2000s. This book explores the nature of heroism and grief.
Keneally is obviously a talented writer. It must have been a challenge to figure out how to tell this tale through the widow’s point of view, since she remains outside the military chain of command and is not directly privy to the details of military operations. A number of outsiders are looking into how the mission went so horribly wrong, and they convey their findings to Grace, sometimes many years after the fact. She does not always want to hear these new accounts. She must then confront her grief in a new way, and it is a gut-wrenching experience all over again.
The book is reflective in tone. The characters are easy to envision as real people. The settings in Australia, Singapore, and the Malay islands are vividly described. I very much enjoyed the literary references, especially the analogies to George Bernard Shaw’s The Devils’s Disciple. I need to read more of Keneally’s work.
Keneally is obviously a talented writer. It must have been a challenge to figure out how to tell this tale through the widow’s point of view, since she remains outside the military chain of command and is not directly privy to the details of military operations. A number of outsiders are looking into how the mission went so horribly wrong, and they convey their findings to Grace, sometimes many years after the fact. She does not always want to hear these new accounts. She must then confront her grief in a new way, and it is a gut-wrenching experience all over again.
The book is reflective in tone. The characters are easy to envision as real people. The settings in Australia, Singapore, and the Malay islands are vividly described. I very much enjoyed the literary references, especially the analogies to George Bernard Shaw’s The Devils’s Disciple. I need to read more of Keneally’s work.
May 30, 2012
Keneally's place as one of the most diverse living authors is confirmed by this, his 30th novel. It is surprising that few reviewers on this site have given it more than 3 stars, but those who read just for the excitement of the narrative are probably a little disappointed by this book. Whilst it is gripping in places, the author did not set out to produce a thriller or work driven by suspense. We know the fate of the main characters in the opening paragraphs: the main interest is in discovering how things turned out so badly. Whilst the story itself is both fascinating and enlightening, to me the real purpose of the book is an exploration of heroism: what drives us to do heroic things; what can restrain us when we feel the urge to do heroic things; and what impact heroism can have on the bystanders.
Like all of Keneally's writing, this book is underpinned by extensive research. As well as being an enthralling examination of the human spirit, the novel is informative and instructive. The reader is taken convincingly to the streets of wartime Melbourne, and the language of the characters both reflects the naivety of the age and risks taken by those like Dotty Mortmain who push against the social confines. This ability to create "local colour" so convincingly is one of Keneally's trademarks, and one that draws me back to his work time and again.
The events of the novel are loosely based around two strikingly similar missions, Operations Jaywick (Cornflakes in the book) and Rimau (Meramang). I haven't been able to discover why the author chose to rename the missions, as well as the participants, but perhaps that was a concession to anyone still living who had some role in these events. There is an underpinning sense of frustration at how poorly the missions were supported in official terms, and Keneally (or the publisher's lawyers) may have found it safer to treat characters as fictitious. Like many authors dealing with human failings, Keneally has certainly changed a few names before - even in the iconic Schindler's Ark (List).
Keneally gets inside the mind, and heart, of his protagonist. We feel, more than just understand, her anger, frustration and resentment, yet the story has the redemptive threads essential to creating a sense of dignity, and even something uplifting.
Like all of Keneally's writing, this book is underpinned by extensive research. As well as being an enthralling examination of the human spirit, the novel is informative and instructive. The reader is taken convincingly to the streets of wartime Melbourne, and the language of the characters both reflects the naivety of the age and risks taken by those like Dotty Mortmain who push against the social confines. This ability to create "local colour" so convincingly is one of Keneally's trademarks, and one that draws me back to his work time and again.
The events of the novel are loosely based around two strikingly similar missions, Operations Jaywick (Cornflakes in the book) and Rimau (Meramang). I haven't been able to discover why the author chose to rename the missions, as well as the participants, but perhaps that was a concession to anyone still living who had some role in these events. There is an underpinning sense of frustration at how poorly the missions were supported in official terms, and Keneally (or the publisher's lawyers) may have found it safer to treat characters as fictitious. Like many authors dealing with human failings, Keneally has certainly changed a few names before - even in the iconic Schindler's Ark (List).
Keneally gets inside the mind, and heart, of his protagonist. We feel, more than just understand, her anger, frustration and resentment, yet the story has the redemptive threads essential to creating a sense of dignity, and even something uplifting.
December 19, 2016
Interrogates ideals of masculinity and heroism
Set in Australia and around the Pacific during the second world war, this is a book which confronts the ideals of heroism and masculinity in wartime through a widow's grief at the death of her young husband. We witness the horrible wartime executions in the opening chapter so this isn't a page-turner in the traditional sense where we're racing to find out what happens - instead it's a meditation on the aftermath of self-sacrifice, and the uncovering of the lies and operational mishaps which lead to the deaths.
This is an intelligent and moving book: on one hand the text itself heroises the behaviour of the men involved in war-time operations in the Pacific, and yet, on the other, it offers the idea that they wasted their lives, and were liberated from the burden of masculine conventions through their deaths.
So overall this is a thoughtful and meditative read which asks lots of questions to which there are no easy answers. Grace, the narrator, has her own view but, interestingly, I'm not sure that it's one which the text itself supports. For such a short book, this is resonant and haunting.
Set in Australia and around the Pacific during the second world war, this is a book which confronts the ideals of heroism and masculinity in wartime through a widow's grief at the death of her young husband. We witness the horrible wartime executions in the opening chapter so this isn't a page-turner in the traditional sense where we're racing to find out what happens - instead it's a meditation on the aftermath of self-sacrifice, and the uncovering of the lies and operational mishaps which lead to the deaths.
This is an intelligent and moving book: on one hand the text itself heroises the behaviour of the men involved in war-time operations in the Pacific, and yet, on the other, it offers the idea that they wasted their lives, and were liberated from the burden of masculine conventions through their deaths.
So overall this is a thoughtful and meditative read which asks lots of questions to which there are no easy answers. Grace, the narrator, has her own view but, interestingly, I'm not sure that it's one which the text itself supports. For such a short book, this is resonant and haunting.
December 1, 2011
Looks like most people haven't been terribly impressed by this one, but I really enjoyed it. I'm not entirely sure what folks were expecting, but having read another of Keneally's books (Victim of the Aurora), I knew I was probably in for a quiet and very convincing piece of historical fiction, and I wasn't disappointed one bit.
80-something-year-old Grace tells the story of her life with Leo, from courtship to marriage to widowhood, and of Leo's involvement with one Major Doucette and his obsession with dangerous missions to Singapore. It's a story of love and war and heroism and, maybe, about how the ghosts of your past can follow you for the rest of your life, if you let them.
I listened to the audio version, and Beverly Dunn, who was the voice of Grace, was fantastic--I absolutely loved her. I had a much more difficult time with David Tredinnick's narration for Leo's parts, because he just sounded so much older than I pictured Leo being at the time, and I could never quite reconcile the voice with the words. But there really aren't a whole lot of Leo bits, so it wasn't enough to really detract from the story as a whole.
Anyway, I definitely consider myself a fan of Keneally's at this point, and look forward to reading more of his work!
80-something-year-old Grace tells the story of her life with Leo, from courtship to marriage to widowhood, and of Leo's involvement with one Major Doucette and his obsession with dangerous missions to Singapore. It's a story of love and war and heroism and, maybe, about how the ghosts of your past can follow you for the rest of your life, if you let them.
I listened to the audio version, and Beverly Dunn, who was the voice of Grace, was fantastic--I absolutely loved her. I had a much more difficult time with David Tredinnick's narration for Leo's parts, because he just sounded so much older than I pictured Leo being at the time, and I could never quite reconcile the voice with the words. But there really aren't a whole lot of Leo bits, so it wasn't enough to really detract from the story as a whole.
Anyway, I definitely consider myself a fan of Keneally's at this point, and look forward to reading more of his work!
January 19, 2019
This is the first book I've read by Keneally and I read it in preparation for the upcoming Mooskie Madness Tournament. I enjoyed this one a lot.
Grace, twice-widowed, is in her eighties. She purports to be writing this story for her granddaughter to read after she's dead. It is the story of her first husband who died as a POW/war criminal during the waning days of WWII. Leo was a dashing young man, a young officer with the Australian special troops. He is in an elite unit commanded by Captain Doucette, an English/Irishman whose wife and stepson were on a boat captured by the Japanese. Leo's father is also in a Japanese internment camp so Leo has a bond with Doucette. Leo and Grace marry after the completion of a secret mission where Doucette's team affixed explosive charges to the hulls of many Japanese ships in Singapore's harbor. They have a few short months together when Doucette's team heads off on an even riskier mission. No one returns from that mission. It takes years for the truth of what happened and why to surface, with Grace learning new, unsort for, information in her 80's from a retired US general who had been connected to the mission.
This was one of those books that does a great job of providing a sense of what it was like for young people during WWII, especially the women who waited for their men to return and the young men who were determined to play the hero's role. And then, as the story moves beyond the end of WWII, we learn about the "coverups" and late fulfilled promises and empathize with Grace when she feels pushed into learning more - learning first that perhaps Leo was not so noble and then learning how he and those left under his command had been hung out to dry as what might be called "collateral damage."
This was a well-written book that I enjoyed very much.
Grace, twice-widowed, is in her eighties. She purports to be writing this story for her granddaughter to read after she's dead. It is the story of her first husband who died as a POW/war criminal during the waning days of WWII. Leo was a dashing young man, a young officer with the Australian special troops. He is in an elite unit commanded by Captain Doucette, an English/Irishman whose wife and stepson were on a boat captured by the Japanese. Leo's father is also in a Japanese internment camp so Leo has a bond with Doucette. Leo and Grace marry after the completion of a secret mission where Doucette's team affixed explosive charges to the hulls of many Japanese ships in Singapore's harbor. They have a few short months together when Doucette's team heads off on an even riskier mission. No one returns from that mission. It takes years for the truth of what happened and why to surface, with Grace learning new, unsort for, information in her 80's from a retired US general who had been connected to the mission.
This was one of those books that does a great job of providing a sense of what it was like for young people during WWII, especially the women who waited for their men to return and the young men who were determined to play the hero's role. And then, as the story moves beyond the end of WWII, we learn about the "coverups" and late fulfilled promises and empathize with Grace when she feels pushed into learning more - learning first that perhaps Leo was not so noble and then learning how he and those left under his command had been hung out to dry as what might be called "collateral damage."
This was a well-written book that I enjoyed very much.
August 11, 2018
Enthralling and sobering. The shadow of her husband’s war death lies over the widow’s life. A valuable insight into how war widows live with the emotional suffering. One of the best novels I’ve read for some time.
June 10, 2011
I started this book shortly after I received it as a birthday gift. That was about two or three years ago. It became part of my list of books to continue. This year, I picked it up again and at last, I finished it. I cannot seem to find the push to keep turning the pages. The theme of war just doesn't appeal that much to me. Their love story was not that exciting. For a woman's point of view, the writing was too logical. But, that's just me.
The whole book was poignant, though. It illustrated that there were heroes who do not get the recognition or reward that they deserve. The reasons for their "bravery" sometimes could not be comprehended, especially when choices were presented.
The whole book was poignant, though. It illustrated that there were heroes who do not get the recognition or reward that they deserve. The reasons for their "bravery" sometimes could not be comprehended, especially when choices were presented.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 25, 2012
This should have been so much better. A really interesting subject, but an incredibly dull read until about the last 20 pages.
May 2, 2024
Narrated in the main by Grace, the widow of the title, looking back on her life with occasional but substantial inserts from the diaries of Leo, her one time husband who was beheaded by the Japanese near the end of the second world war, "The Widow and Her Hero" looks at the moral ambiguity of the concept of the "hero".
Leo had been one of a group of soldiers who engaged in guerrilla actions against Japanese military based in south Asian countries and islands, such actions involving the destruction of Japanese - and Malay - ships, buildings and people. The members of the group see themselves as being almost "boys own" heroes fighting the good fight, but they also have an appetite for war and see nothing wrong in killing civilians who get in their way. One of the many questions Keneally is asking is: what makes Leo and his comrades heroes when the Japanese enemy are seen as war criminals? It is a question he leaves to the reader to decide.
As with so many of Keneally's novels, the narrator is an observer who is not involved in much of the action at the story's heart. And as in other novels of his, this provides the reader with perspectives we wouldn't otherwise have. Grace has no idea what Leo is involved in until she sees his diaries, and in the case of the events leading to his death it is several decades later when she is an elderly woman that she sees his last diary - returned to her by the Japanese man who acted as translator during Leo's final weeks and who is now seeking some sort of reconciliation, something Grace can't or won't give him.
Grief and anger never leave Grace, no matter how long she lives, and she continues to have questions, many of which can't be answered.
Given what has happened this century in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and other parts of the world where the west has intervened, the questions and moral ambiguity at the heart of this novel remain relevant today.
Leo had been one of a group of soldiers who engaged in guerrilla actions against Japanese military based in south Asian countries and islands, such actions involving the destruction of Japanese - and Malay - ships, buildings and people. The members of the group see themselves as being almost "boys own" heroes fighting the good fight, but they also have an appetite for war and see nothing wrong in killing civilians who get in their way. One of the many questions Keneally is asking is: what makes Leo and his comrades heroes when the Japanese enemy are seen as war criminals? It is a question he leaves to the reader to decide.
As with so many of Keneally's novels, the narrator is an observer who is not involved in much of the action at the story's heart. And as in other novels of his, this provides the reader with perspectives we wouldn't otherwise have. Grace has no idea what Leo is involved in until she sees his diaries, and in the case of the events leading to his death it is several decades later when she is an elderly woman that she sees his last diary - returned to her by the Japanese man who acted as translator during Leo's final weeks and who is now seeking some sort of reconciliation, something Grace can't or won't give him.
Grief and anger never leave Grace, no matter how long she lives, and she continues to have questions, many of which can't be answered.
Given what has happened this century in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and other parts of the world where the west has intervened, the questions and moral ambiguity at the heart of this novel remain relevant today.
May 26, 2025
Keneally can write with an unadorned profundity based on the solid ground of meticulous research and personal feelings. The strongest of Keneally's works have managed to go beyond historical narrative analysis to convey rage, admiration, or guilty complicity, that snares the reader to get fully involved. 'The Window and Her Hero' had some of these ingredients, but unfortunately in trying to write from the widow's viewpoint, I could never quite escape the feeling that Keneally's eyes kept straying to the derring-do exploits of his WWII menfolk.
Grace Waterhouse has a lot to say about the stages of grief, including the acceptance that made possible a second marriage. This story could have taken centre stage, whereas Keneally spends a lot of time (occasionally a little leadenly) depicting missions to mine Japanese warships in newly-captured Singapore. We know from the title and opening sentences that, ultimately, her husband Leo will become a victim and leave Grace to mourn in Australia. There is a rush of excitement to be had at the apex of these boy soldier missions, but these also feel like another chapter in Keneally's case for Australia's contribution to the war effort, rather than the widow's story. The mine blasts could have been made to echo, rather than filling the frame for so many pages.
The search for a truth, sitting alongside a new phase in postwar life, feels sensitive enough, but the tone out of kilter with the 'Great Escape' main feature. In a book that could have told the two stories through the widow's eyes to the egrandisement of both, I was left feeling Grace was under pressure from the very sort of boy's war story that Keneally was trying to avoid.
Interestingly, Penelope Lively writes a warm review that is quoted on the cover of my copy. Lively's own 'Moon Tiger' is a much better example of how a female standpoint on lost love and lost lives from WWII can be told.
I'd stick with Lively if I was recommending. That said, I might be tempted to pair A Widow and Her Hero' with J.G. Farrell's lengthy (but genuinely gripping) 'The Singapore Grip'.
Grace Waterhouse has a lot to say about the stages of grief, including the acceptance that made possible a second marriage. This story could have taken centre stage, whereas Keneally spends a lot of time (occasionally a little leadenly) depicting missions to mine Japanese warships in newly-captured Singapore. We know from the title and opening sentences that, ultimately, her husband Leo will become a victim and leave Grace to mourn in Australia. There is a rush of excitement to be had at the apex of these boy soldier missions, but these also feel like another chapter in Keneally's case for Australia's contribution to the war effort, rather than the widow's story. The mine blasts could have been made to echo, rather than filling the frame for so many pages.
The search for a truth, sitting alongside a new phase in postwar life, feels sensitive enough, but the tone out of kilter with the 'Great Escape' main feature. In a book that could have told the two stories through the widow's eyes to the egrandisement of both, I was left feeling Grace was under pressure from the very sort of boy's war story that Keneally was trying to avoid.
Interestingly, Penelope Lively writes a warm review that is quoted on the cover of my copy. Lively's own 'Moon Tiger' is a much better example of how a female standpoint on lost love and lost lives from WWII can be told.
I'd stick with Lively if I was recommending. That said, I might be tempted to pair A Widow and Her Hero' with J.G. Farrell's lengthy (but genuinely gripping) 'The Singapore Grip'.
April 30, 2019
How good is Tom Keneally, I love this author. His writing is beautiful, when telling a story he doesn’t need to embellish with anything other than what’s there. He draws you in to the nuance of experience of the story he is telling. The Widow and her Hero - the experience of war in all its facets truly remarkable.
March 3, 2023
A tightly knit interweaving of a ripping adventure yarn set in the Pacific Theatre of WWII and the more enigmatic struggles on the home front. Kenneally remains a master at juggling perspectives and performing a slow,dramatic reveal.
August 22, 2023
An unusual point of view for a story set during a war but the anger, bitterness and weariness of Grace Waterhouse are so relatable and refreshing. War isn't romantic and sexy. It's bleak and violent and messy. We think of a hero in a different way - flawed, selfish and destructive.
December 18, 2022
Not quite engaging.
June 12, 2025
The subject is promising, and the truth of 'heroism' in war is forensically exposed, but I confess I got bored with this.
June 9, 2026
This was a well written book about Australian missions in WW2.
November 30, 2022
Very unusual style of writing
Certainly interesting historical war story
Certainly interesting historical war story
October 1, 2012
One night the magnetic Major Doucette leads a crackerjack team of men into Townsville harbour, where they soundlessly attach dummy mines to the allied ships anchored there. The success of this brazen venture convinces the military authorities to sanction Operation Cornflakes. With darkened skin and suicide tablets around their necks, Doucette and his men re-enact their undertaking, stealing into the port at Singapore, attaching mines to Japanese ships and sinking tons of enemy warships. Returning to Australia, the heroes are met with astonished praise by their generals and eagerly plan for the next, more ambitious adventure—Operation Memerang.
This time, they aren’t so lucky. The plan goes awry; the escape is botched; the men confront the Japanese on an island south of Indonesia, where they are swiftly overwhelmed. Those who aren’t killed are returned to Singapore, put on trial and beheaded.
Doucette’s best officer, Captain Leo Waterhouse, is one of the captured. It is Leo’s personal story as told by his widow Grace that forms the centrepiece of the novel. The young, handsome Leo bears a resemblance to Errol Flynn. And his bride Grace, who is deeply in love with him, builds a story of romance and heroism around him in order to deal with her fears for his safety and her grief when he is lost.
Sixty years on, Grace revisits the pieces of Leo’s last days as she knows them. However, many questions remain unanswered. For example, what led to their capture? Why weren’t the men rescued? How were they treated by the Japanese? How did they behave in the minutes prior to the beheading? And why weren’t they given posthumous decorations of valour?
For her entire life, Grace remains haunted by Leo’s ghost and tied to the few months they shared together as a young married couple. In the golden days of their honeymoon, Leo awakens her womanhood. He brings her into the world of his associates and their more sophisticated wives, where her eyes are slowly opened. She begins to question the strength of human relations, the value of self-sacrifice and the very notion of heroism. Although the reader knows it’s ahead from the first page, Leo’s death comes as a shock. We are as full of disbelief as Grace herself.
Although Grace moves on after Leo’s death, even remarrying, the memories continue to gnaw at her. There is a part of her that believes Leo’s story will only be settled by her own death. And she’s not alone. The other wives remain haunted by their husbands’ senseless killings. The American officer who made the decision that cost them their lives is tormented by the circumstances of their deaths. Even Hidaka, the prison camp’s translator, a kind man who brought the condemned bags of sweets and promised to take Grace Leo’s last words, also has deep feelings of remorse.
When Hidaka visits Grace after fifty years and delivers Leo’s journal (written implausibly on squares of brown toilet paper), she is afraid to read it, afraid she might learn something that will change the story forever. Grace feels that the summit of Leo’s life was the “liquid darkness in which they had affixed their limpets”. The heroic moment—in other words—and not her. And while this is painful to admit, she has spent a lifetime investing in its value. She is afraid another version of the story might be worse.
She might learn, for example, that Leo was no hero after all, turning inside-out what she believed all her life. She asks herself, “At eighty-four, why not just let yourself go in peace? The ghost is satisfied. The ghost has had its explanations, the ghost has departed the scene.” But he hasn’t and never will.
Keneally’s skill as one of Australia’s most versatile and interesting literary figures rests in such ambiguities. He questions our need for heroes and the price we all pay for needing them.
For the generation of Australians who lived through the terrible war and survived, men and women like Grace who are now past eighty, this novel acknowledges the awful price they paid and gives us a glimpse into the cold shadow of a war that has never quite disappeared under the hot Australian sun.
This time, they aren’t so lucky. The plan goes awry; the escape is botched; the men confront the Japanese on an island south of Indonesia, where they are swiftly overwhelmed. Those who aren’t killed are returned to Singapore, put on trial and beheaded.
Doucette’s best officer, Captain Leo Waterhouse, is one of the captured. It is Leo’s personal story as told by his widow Grace that forms the centrepiece of the novel. The young, handsome Leo bears a resemblance to Errol Flynn. And his bride Grace, who is deeply in love with him, builds a story of romance and heroism around him in order to deal with her fears for his safety and her grief when he is lost.
Sixty years on, Grace revisits the pieces of Leo’s last days as she knows them. However, many questions remain unanswered. For example, what led to their capture? Why weren’t the men rescued? How were they treated by the Japanese? How did they behave in the minutes prior to the beheading? And why weren’t they given posthumous decorations of valour?
For her entire life, Grace remains haunted by Leo’s ghost and tied to the few months they shared together as a young married couple. In the golden days of their honeymoon, Leo awakens her womanhood. He brings her into the world of his associates and their more sophisticated wives, where her eyes are slowly opened. She begins to question the strength of human relations, the value of self-sacrifice and the very notion of heroism. Although the reader knows it’s ahead from the first page, Leo’s death comes as a shock. We are as full of disbelief as Grace herself.
Although Grace moves on after Leo’s death, even remarrying, the memories continue to gnaw at her. There is a part of her that believes Leo’s story will only be settled by her own death. And she’s not alone. The other wives remain haunted by their husbands’ senseless killings. The American officer who made the decision that cost them their lives is tormented by the circumstances of their deaths. Even Hidaka, the prison camp’s translator, a kind man who brought the condemned bags of sweets and promised to take Grace Leo’s last words, also has deep feelings of remorse.
When Hidaka visits Grace after fifty years and delivers Leo’s journal (written implausibly on squares of brown toilet paper), she is afraid to read it, afraid she might learn something that will change the story forever. Grace feels that the summit of Leo’s life was the “liquid darkness in which they had affixed their limpets”. The heroic moment—in other words—and not her. And while this is painful to admit, she has spent a lifetime investing in its value. She is afraid another version of the story might be worse.
She might learn, for example, that Leo was no hero after all, turning inside-out what she believed all her life. She asks herself, “At eighty-four, why not just let yourself go in peace? The ghost is satisfied. The ghost has had its explanations, the ghost has departed the scene.” But he hasn’t and never will.
Keneally’s skill as one of Australia’s most versatile and interesting literary figures rests in such ambiguities. He questions our need for heroes and the price we all pay for needing them.
For the generation of Australians who lived through the terrible war and survived, men and women like Grace who are now past eighty, this novel acknowledges the awful price they paid and gives us a glimpse into the cold shadow of a war that has never quite disappeared under the hot Australian sun.
November 1, 2012
I wanted this book to be wonderful. Schindler�s Ark was such an iconic piece of literature, and I was hoping that my second jaunt into Keneally�s world would touch me in the same way. I must admit that I�ve studied the Holocaust in great depth and thus part of the attraction to Keneally�s most famous work stems from that, but The Widow and Her Hero was sadly lacking. Parts of it were written in a fast-moving, captivating manner � I loved the parts about Grace�s life as the girlfriend, wife and widow of an Australian seaman during the Second World War. I felt a connection to her touching but not overly sentimental story, and had Keneally kept it to that, he would have written a fine book that explored ideas of love and grief in a really interesting way. [return][return]Sadly, the bit that really ruined the book for me were the parts that really defined Keneally�s overall purpose � writing about the reality of war, of carrying out espionage far from home, and ultimately falling victim to a tyrannical enemy. Some parts were interesting, but I struggled to the end, especially with the uncomfortable meeting between one of the Japanese characters and Grace in Australia long after the war has ended. Some of Leo�s colleagues came across as dull and I think I got them confused in the end. I would recommend this if you�re interested in military history, especially in the Pacific front of World War Two, but that wasn�t what I was looking for and as a result I didn�t particularly enjoy large chunks of this book.
March 28, 2010
The conceit of this novel by one of Australia's top writers is that it is written by the wife of a man who, with others, had been involved in clandestine operations by Australians against the Japanese in S E Asia during World War II. Now, 60 years on, further information is forthcoming which threatens to reveal more about these secret missions and what had happened than she might want to know.
The writing is cool and restrained, but underneath there is a searing sense of loss for her hero husband, Leo, and she is determined to cling to the aura that the word 'hero' creates, and which, perhaps, sustains her love. So a sub-text of this novel is an exploration of love and heroism, a calm meditation on shifting interpretations.
Within the life-and-death foolishness of war, possibly foolhardy actions can be deemed heroic. But perhaps they are also more like boyish adventures (with their own 'heroes' embedded) which only later are termed as glorious, courageous and heroic. Yet the latter terms remain in our consciousness. They are masks, yes, but we seem to need them, particularly when, underneath, they protect the personal face of love.
The writing is cool and restrained, but underneath there is a searing sense of loss for her hero husband, Leo, and she is determined to cling to the aura that the word 'hero' creates, and which, perhaps, sustains her love. So a sub-text of this novel is an exploration of love and heroism, a calm meditation on shifting interpretations.
Within the life-and-death foolishness of war, possibly foolhardy actions can be deemed heroic. But perhaps they are also more like boyish adventures (with their own 'heroes' embedded) which only later are termed as glorious, courageous and heroic. Yet the latter terms remain in our consciousness. They are masks, yes, but we seem to need them, particularly when, underneath, they protect the personal face of love.
October 16, 2016
Interesting subject matter with a predictable ending. This story is told by the soldier's wife long after he has been executed by the Japanese just before the ending of WW2. I found this book difficult sometimes to follow as there were several words that I had to look up the meaning for. I am an avid reader so was surprised by this detail. I will say this is not a book to take to work and read on a coffee break, especially if there are others in the room talking.
The author did cover the difference in how woman vs man relate to each other and the world events. He looks at he definition of "hero" from both perspectives and the comparison is quite fascinating.
This is a very good novel but as I said not one that can be picked up and get immersed in quickly. It is like drinking a lovely glass of red wine...must be sipped slowly to enjoy its essence, this book is best saved for quiet moments.
The author did cover the difference in how woman vs man relate to each other and the world events. He looks at he definition of "hero" from both perspectives and the comparison is quite fascinating.
This is a very good novel but as I said not one that can be picked up and get immersed in quickly. It is like drinking a lovely glass of red wine...must be sipped slowly to enjoy its essence, this book is best saved for quiet moments.
February 5, 2012
One review said -
"Above all, though, The Widow and Her Hero is distinguished by its memorable portrait of two women: the quiet, thoughtful Grace and the fiery Dotty. They, offspring of Goethe's Eternal Feminine, raise Keneally's new novel to an admirable height of achievement."
I prefer books written by women and since this is the first of Keneally's books I have read, I am going to be very unfair. I was definitely not impressed.
a woman could have written those two women much more interestingly.
I kept at the book because it kept hinting that something momentous was to be revealed. I never saw anything to shake the Widow's grace or to elevate it. The story of the men and their wartime devotions and travails seemed pedestrian. I learned nothing there either.
Not the book for me.
However, I am interested in reading his book Schindler's Ark.
"Above all, though, The Widow and Her Hero is distinguished by its memorable portrait of two women: the quiet, thoughtful Grace and the fiery Dotty. They, offspring of Goethe's Eternal Feminine, raise Keneally's new novel to an admirable height of achievement."
I prefer books written by women and since this is the first of Keneally's books I have read, I am going to be very unfair. I was definitely not impressed.
a woman could have written those two women much more interestingly.
I kept at the book because it kept hinting that something momentous was to be revealed. I never saw anything to shake the Widow's grace or to elevate it. The story of the men and their wartime devotions and travails seemed pedestrian. I learned nothing there either.
Not the book for me.
However, I am interested in reading his book Schindler's Ark.
February 5, 2011
I felt like I was reading an autobiography but the author says it was fiction. Hats off to Mr.Keneally as I found the whole thing entirely believable and authentic. There were no real surprises or twists, and even the ultimate betrayal which isn't revealed until the end, was kind of predictable. In saying that I'm not being critical. I found the narrative engaging and I cared about the characters.
There was a lot of time travelling in the narrative, switching between past and present but it was so well done, I never felt lost. No wow factor though.
There was a lot of time travelling in the narrative, switching between past and present but it was so well done, I never felt lost. No wow factor though.
May 24, 2013
a surprising book, neither a love story nor a war epic but rather a subtle exploration of heros andmotivations to be a hero. set in Australia and thereabouts it centers around commando expeditions against the Japanese and even though it drags a bit sometimes it is very nicely told and interesting. hat is maybe the most interesting is the 'after the events' dimension and how lives can affected by a somewhat small event and how individual motives, whether good or bad, can intertwine to defeat heroism even years after. overall clever sensitive and well written.
November 21, 2013
Beautifully written. A historical recount of young love during WW2 and the daring risk soldiers took to inflict damage onto the Japanese Fleet. The soldiers are caught, trialled and executed. Fast forward through the years and the widow is presented with a record of the events from the Japanese guard at the time, as and older lady, she decks him.
Guaranteed a good read, thoughtfully written by Thomas Keneally
Guaranteed a good read, thoughtfully written by Thomas Keneally
April 9, 2012
Thomas Keneally excels at creating a sense of time/place in all his novels that I have read. This one is no exception. What it doesn't do is make me really care about the people, which surprised me. I expect more from him. Was it my frame of mind or the book? Not sure.
I did think that the Bolinda audiobook was quite well done, a good use of dual narrators.
I did think that the Bolinda audiobook was quite well done, a good use of dual narrators.
July 30, 2014
That I read this within days of finding a photograph of my mother's first husband's grave - he died a PoW at Kanchanaburi - added to the poignancy of this hugely impressive novel which deals with the death of a husband as told from the widow's point view with an insight and credibility that is humbling on many levels.
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July 25, 2011Mixed feedback from the Monday evening book club about this one. It provoked a very good discussion about heroes and those left behind and the ways in which people feel the need to unburden their guilt onto others.
The members gave it 8/7/7/6/5/5/6
The members gave it 8/7/7/6/5/5/6
January 30, 2012
I had difficulty getting through, what I felt, were inappropriate comments regarding sexual encounters. However, I continued to the end and felt sadness more than anything for the characters due to the outcome of their lives.
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