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De reizigers
Sarah en haar kleindochter Hannah maken een cruise van Californië naar Australië. Sarah keert terug naar haar geboorteland, waar ze niet meer is geweest sinds ze in 1945 aan boord stapte van de USS Mariposa. Samen met vele andere oorlogsbruiden stak zij dat jaar de Stille Oceaan over, om te worden herenigd met de Amerikaanse soldaten waarmee zij tijdens de oorlog trouwden.
Hannah is van dezelfde leeftijd als haar oma toen die haar grote reis maakte, en als ze haar levensverhaal hoort, beseft ze wat haar grootmoeder destijds allemaal opgaf...
Hannah is van dezelfde leeftijd als haar oma toen die haar grote reis maakte, en als ze haar levensverhaal hoort, beseft ze wat haar grootmoeder destijds allemaal opgaf...
276 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 21, 2018
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May 6, 2018
”It’s hard to believe I am here. That I have finally returned. As the ship came through the craggy cliffs of the heads and into Sydney Harbour at dawn…
It is all too much, even just hearing the familiar accent… I am taut to bursting with the present and past, all of it mixing within me, every sound and smell bringing up what it was I left behind.”
”Memory is a strange creature, no doubt about that, for it can shove things behind the bureau for years and then suddenly they pop out like a jack-in-the-box, something lost suddenly found.”
Beautiful. Super emotional.
Some writers have the ability to make you feel that you are taking part in the lives of the characters. That you are right there with them. “The Passengers” is one of those. It is beautifully written, and I felt that I knew Sarah, as if I’d been with her every step of the way throughout her story.
Life is not cut and dried, but a series of events that you deal with at the time. This book evoked the essence of the time it was set in. We meet Sarah as a schoolgirl, living on the family farm. The work is hard, but she loves being amongst nature, and even the pre-dawn milking of the cows fills her with a sense of calm. Sadly, they are unable to make ends meet, and have to move to Sydney. Living in the city is life changing. Sarah’s two brothers head off to war, her parents become strangers to each other, and Sarah longs to escape from an unhappy environment.
With the times being so tumultuous, Sarah makes the decision to marry Roy, an American G.I who she’s just met, and to return with him to his homeland in Virginia. She is one of hundreds of “war brides” who made the journey from Australia to the States.
After more than 70 years, Sarah finally makes the return journey to Sydney with her granddaughter Hannah. The journey is also taken via sea, so essentially Sarah has come full circle. On this trip, Sarah tells her story to Hannah, and what an emotional one it is. This book reaches in, takes out your heart, and gives it a good shake.
I had to pause so many times while reading it, it was so overwhelming. Heart wrenching.
This book should come with a warning to not read it in public! I read it on my work commute and had to wipe away tears and sniffle discretely.
For me, Hannah’s character is definitely secondary to Sarah, as she is the star of this story. Her strength and resilience shine through. It made me realise how much previous generations went through, not just physically, but emotionally. There were many uplifting moments too (it wasn’t all doom & gloom!). Sarah finding love again is beautiful, and descriptions of the Aussie bush and nature is spot on.
Definitely a story that will replay in my mind for a long time to come.
It is all too much, even just hearing the familiar accent… I am taut to bursting with the present and past, all of it mixing within me, every sound and smell bringing up what it was I left behind.”
”Memory is a strange creature, no doubt about that, for it can shove things behind the bureau for years and then suddenly they pop out like a jack-in-the-box, something lost suddenly found.”
Beautiful. Super emotional.
Some writers have the ability to make you feel that you are taking part in the lives of the characters. That you are right there with them. “The Passengers” is one of those. It is beautifully written, and I felt that I knew Sarah, as if I’d been with her every step of the way throughout her story.
Life is not cut and dried, but a series of events that you deal with at the time. This book evoked the essence of the time it was set in. We meet Sarah as a schoolgirl, living on the family farm. The work is hard, but she loves being amongst nature, and even the pre-dawn milking of the cows fills her with a sense of calm. Sadly, they are unable to make ends meet, and have to move to Sydney. Living in the city is life changing. Sarah’s two brothers head off to war, her parents become strangers to each other, and Sarah longs to escape from an unhappy environment.
With the times being so tumultuous, Sarah makes the decision to marry Roy, an American G.I who she’s just met, and to return with him to his homeland in Virginia. She is one of hundreds of “war brides” who made the journey from Australia to the States.
After more than 70 years, Sarah finally makes the return journey to Sydney with her granddaughter Hannah. The journey is also taken via sea, so essentially Sarah has come full circle. On this trip, Sarah tells her story to Hannah, and what an emotional one it is. This book reaches in, takes out your heart, and gives it a good shake.
I had to pause so many times while reading it, it was so overwhelming. Heart wrenching.
This book should come with a warning to not read it in public! I read it on my work commute and had to wipe away tears and sniffle discretely.
For me, Hannah’s character is definitely secondary to Sarah, as she is the star of this story. Her strength and resilience shine through. It made me realise how much previous generations went through, not just physically, but emotionally. There were many uplifting moments too (it wasn’t all doom & gloom!). Sarah finding love again is beautiful, and descriptions of the Aussie bush and nature is spot on.
Definitely a story that will replay in my mind for a long time to come.
November 17, 2018
This was an enjoyable, well written book which I read pretty much in a single session without ever feeling the need to put it down. A good book therefore and well worth 4 stars.
Just four though because there was an issue. Is anyone else also getting tired of having two timelines in the same book? It just seems to be in every book these days and for me it is wearing thin. It does work when both time lines are equal in interest but sadly for me this did not happen in this book.
My interest was all with Sarah and her experiences as a war bride as she travels from Australia to America to join the husband she barely knows after World War 2. The other time line involved her grandaughter, Hannah, and although I felt sorry for her and her anorexia, I was not interested at all. Just for once it would be so nice to have a novel which goes from A to Z with no sideways, backwards or forwards leaps.
Nevertheless I did enjoy The Passengers and recommend it as a very entertaining way to pass a few hours
Just four though because there was an issue. Is anyone else also getting tired of having two timelines in the same book? It just seems to be in every book these days and for me it is wearing thin. It does work when both time lines are equal in interest but sadly for me this did not happen in this book.
My interest was all with Sarah and her experiences as a war bride as she travels from Australia to America to join the husband she barely knows after World War 2. The other time line involved her grandaughter, Hannah, and although I felt sorry for her and her anorexia, I was not interested at all. Just for once it would be so nice to have a novel which goes from A to Z with no sideways, backwards or forwards leaps.
Nevertheless I did enjoy The Passengers and recommend it as a very entertaining way to pass a few hours
December 13, 2018
Historical fiction was a genre that I didn't read a lot of, but over the last few years that has certainly varied and it's become one of my favourite genres. Like most historical fiction novels, The Passengers has a dual timeline that alternates between past and present, which was done exceedingly well in my opinion.
Hannah and her grandmother Sarah are on a cruise ship from San Diego, California to Sydney Australia. During their trip Sarah tells Hannah the story of her life and it is here where we the reader are taken on a wonderful journey of a woman who endured so much, but with force and determination she survived it all. What a wonderful story this truly was. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who enjoys reading especially those who love historical fiction.
With thanks to the publishers for my uncorrected proof copy to read and review.
Hannah and her grandmother Sarah are on a cruise ship from San Diego, California to Sydney Australia. During their trip Sarah tells Hannah the story of her life and it is here where we the reader are taken on a wonderful journey of a woman who endured so much, but with force and determination she survived it all. What a wonderful story this truly was. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who enjoys reading especially those who love historical fiction.
With thanks to the publishers for my uncorrected proof copy to read and review.
February 14, 2020
As Sarah and Hannah travelled on the cruise from San Diego to Sydney, Sarah, Hannah’s grandma told Hannah of the last time she was in Australia, the land of her birth, in 1945 and the journey beyond. Sarah had married Roy, a US serviceman she’d met in Sydney, the day before he left the shores for war. In the years after Roy left, Sarah and he had corresponded by mail only. The availability of the USS Mariposa to take Australian war brides to the United States and their husbands was an opportunity Sarah couldn’t miss. And as she left the dock in Sydney, she wondered if she’d ever see her Mum and Dad, or brothers Fred and Jack, again.
With Hannah learning all about her grandmother’s earlier life, she was intrigued by the courage and tenacity her grandma showed. The things Sarah went through over her lifetime seemed to highlight everything she gave up by leaving Australia. Hannah herself struggled with her health; had done for years. And Sarah could see it happening again…
The Passengers by Aussie author Eleanor Limprecht was an enjoyable look at the history of Australia’s war brides, the love and faith that saw them take incredible risks; the sacrifices that were made every day. I loved Sarah’s story – felt much more involved in that than Hannah’s story. Sarah’s story evolved; Hannah’s appeared to stagnate. A compelling historical novel, The Passengers is one I recommend.
With Hannah learning all about her grandmother’s earlier life, she was intrigued by the courage and tenacity her grandma showed. The things Sarah went through over her lifetime seemed to highlight everything she gave up by leaving Australia. Hannah herself struggled with her health; had done for years. And Sarah could see it happening again…
The Passengers by Aussie author Eleanor Limprecht was an enjoyable look at the history of Australia’s war brides, the love and faith that saw them take incredible risks; the sacrifices that were made every day. I loved Sarah’s story – felt much more involved in that than Hannah’s story. Sarah’s story evolved; Hannah’s appeared to stagnate. A compelling historical novel, The Passengers is one I recommend.
February 21, 2018
*https://mrsbbookreviews.wordpress.com
4.5 stars
Life is certainly a voyage, of which we are simply passengers, is the meaningful message behind Eleanor Limprecht’s new novel, titled The Passengers. This evocative war-time, crossed with present day journey, conveys messages of the importance of family, second chances, the past, secrets, love, pride and hope. The Passengers is a heartfelt testament and a beautifully rendered tale that combines the experiences of two different women, from contrasting generations, in the one ideal format.
The Passengers begins on board a cruise ship. Sarah and Hannah, a grandmother and her granddaughter, are undertaking a voyage from San Diego in the US, to Sydney in Australia. After many decades away from the country of her birth, Sarah is finally making the trek home. In 1945, Sarah left Australia’s shores on board the USS Mariposa, a ship full of war brides and their children. Sarah, along with many other brides sailed across the seas to be reunited with their American Servicemen, who they became betrothed to during the war. Now, many years later, Sarah is bringing her granddaughter Hannah along with her on this important trip. Hannah is roughly the same age as Sarah was when she made the fateful voyage to the US back in 1945. As the two women sail across the ocean, Sarah recounts her incredible journey. In doing so, Hannah begins to understand the sacrifices her grandmother made and the brave front she put on through this time of big change. The Passengers is a novel that examines the pathways we take in life, the mistakes we make and the lessons in love we learn along the way. It is also about reconciling with long held secrets and putting the ghosts of the past to rest.
The Passengers is a heartfelt and graceful tale, set on the high seas, from an author that I have yet to have the pleasure of reading until this very book. My pure enjoyment of this very satisfying novel, has definitely encouraged my resolve to explore more writing of Eleanor Limprecht in the very near future.
What I immediately loved about this book was the subtle and clever interlinking of Hannah, a nineteen year old student nurse’s story, with her grandmother’s enthralling history. This is a narrative device that really works to the book’s advantage. As a result, we get quite enmeshed within the involving lives of both Hannah and Sarah. Both stories were contrasted very well, but it is possible to see links between the two tales as well.
There is no denying that Eleanor Limprecht, the author of The Passengers, has clearly undertaken a great deal of research to inform her storyline. Firsthand accounts and the inclusion of detailed sources from World War II, with a particular focus on war brides, has been carefully included in this narrative. Although I have read more than one book on war brides in the past, I still felt I learnt more from the capable and informed hand of Eleanor Limprecht. Sarah’s story was both compelling and authentic, reminding us the female experience of war, which was defined by impulse decisions, constant fretting about the safety of loved ones, the concerns about personal safety, due to threats of invasion and of course, grief over the loss of loved ones. It was a time of great flux, distress and uncertainly, which Limprecht evokes with precision in The Passengers.
Limprecht’s characterisation is superb and I was impressed by the formation of her full bodied character list. There are some very well formed side characters in this novel, including the male love interests. However, I felt Sarah, the main character of this novel, was so well drawn and I soon became completely invested in her story. I appreciated how Limprecht stretched out Sarah’s experiences from way back to being a child, to a young woman, a wife and to an elderly woman. I know I didn’t want to let go of Sarah’s journey, I wanted to hold her hand and continue to listen to her colourful life experiences. Her granddaughter Hannah’s story is slightly different, but also very consuming. Hannah is a finely drawn protagonist and I felt like to reader was made privy to her innermost thoughts, feelings and fears in the book. The story that emerges from the character of Hannah is one of profound sadness, upset, fear and anxiety. Limprecht really spreads her wings in these sequences and gives us a detailed account of a young woman suffering from mental illness, body image and health issues. Limprecht is careful to balance Hannah’s scenes with insight and sensitivity. Despite this rather melancholy character journey, I have a great deal of respect for Limprecht’s writing in these scenes of the novel.
The setting in The Passengers is quite expansive. The scenes on board the cruise ship in the present day were beautifully rendered. Likewise, the moments on board the USS Mariposa, were touched so much realism, I thought I was another passenger on board this vessel. In addition, the scenes in Australia, referencing Sarah’s upbringing and family life, was authentic and engaging. Finally, when the book moved to the US, I felt like it hit its peak and really took off in the locale department. I personally connected with the US scenes featuring Sarah after the war.
The Passengers is a skilfully composed tale that infuses historical fact within one very engaging narrative. The structure of The Passengers, which employs the rich first person narrative voices of two unforgettable women, experiencing the same issues in life, despite the gap of time and impressed this reader greatly. Limprecht’s graceful writing style is to be relished, savoured and appreciated for its strength in all facets – the characters, setting, time period, narrative interest and its poignant conclusion. The Passengers is a book well worth your time to investigate and one that will appeal to readers far and wide.
*I wish to thank Allen & Unwin for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.
The Passengers is book #15 of the Australian Women Writers Challenge
4.5 stars
Life is certainly a voyage, of which we are simply passengers, is the meaningful message behind Eleanor Limprecht’s new novel, titled The Passengers. This evocative war-time, crossed with present day journey, conveys messages of the importance of family, second chances, the past, secrets, love, pride and hope. The Passengers is a heartfelt testament and a beautifully rendered tale that combines the experiences of two different women, from contrasting generations, in the one ideal format.
The Passengers begins on board a cruise ship. Sarah and Hannah, a grandmother and her granddaughter, are undertaking a voyage from San Diego in the US, to Sydney in Australia. After many decades away from the country of her birth, Sarah is finally making the trek home. In 1945, Sarah left Australia’s shores on board the USS Mariposa, a ship full of war brides and their children. Sarah, along with many other brides sailed across the seas to be reunited with their American Servicemen, who they became betrothed to during the war. Now, many years later, Sarah is bringing her granddaughter Hannah along with her on this important trip. Hannah is roughly the same age as Sarah was when she made the fateful voyage to the US back in 1945. As the two women sail across the ocean, Sarah recounts her incredible journey. In doing so, Hannah begins to understand the sacrifices her grandmother made and the brave front she put on through this time of big change. The Passengers is a novel that examines the pathways we take in life, the mistakes we make and the lessons in love we learn along the way. It is also about reconciling with long held secrets and putting the ghosts of the past to rest.
The Passengers is a heartfelt and graceful tale, set on the high seas, from an author that I have yet to have the pleasure of reading until this very book. My pure enjoyment of this very satisfying novel, has definitely encouraged my resolve to explore more writing of Eleanor Limprecht in the very near future.
What I immediately loved about this book was the subtle and clever interlinking of Hannah, a nineteen year old student nurse’s story, with her grandmother’s enthralling history. This is a narrative device that really works to the book’s advantage. As a result, we get quite enmeshed within the involving lives of both Hannah and Sarah. Both stories were contrasted very well, but it is possible to see links between the two tales as well.
There is no denying that Eleanor Limprecht, the author of The Passengers, has clearly undertaken a great deal of research to inform her storyline. Firsthand accounts and the inclusion of detailed sources from World War II, with a particular focus on war brides, has been carefully included in this narrative. Although I have read more than one book on war brides in the past, I still felt I learnt more from the capable and informed hand of Eleanor Limprecht. Sarah’s story was both compelling and authentic, reminding us the female experience of war, which was defined by impulse decisions, constant fretting about the safety of loved ones, the concerns about personal safety, due to threats of invasion and of course, grief over the loss of loved ones. It was a time of great flux, distress and uncertainly, which Limprecht evokes with precision in The Passengers.
Limprecht’s characterisation is superb and I was impressed by the formation of her full bodied character list. There are some very well formed side characters in this novel, including the male love interests. However, I felt Sarah, the main character of this novel, was so well drawn and I soon became completely invested in her story. I appreciated how Limprecht stretched out Sarah’s experiences from way back to being a child, to a young woman, a wife and to an elderly woman. I know I didn’t want to let go of Sarah’s journey, I wanted to hold her hand and continue to listen to her colourful life experiences. Her granddaughter Hannah’s story is slightly different, but also very consuming. Hannah is a finely drawn protagonist and I felt like to reader was made privy to her innermost thoughts, feelings and fears in the book. The story that emerges from the character of Hannah is one of profound sadness, upset, fear and anxiety. Limprecht really spreads her wings in these sequences and gives us a detailed account of a young woman suffering from mental illness, body image and health issues. Limprecht is careful to balance Hannah’s scenes with insight and sensitivity. Despite this rather melancholy character journey, I have a great deal of respect for Limprecht’s writing in these scenes of the novel.
The setting in The Passengers is quite expansive. The scenes on board the cruise ship in the present day were beautifully rendered. Likewise, the moments on board the USS Mariposa, were touched so much realism, I thought I was another passenger on board this vessel. In addition, the scenes in Australia, referencing Sarah’s upbringing and family life, was authentic and engaging. Finally, when the book moved to the US, I felt like it hit its peak and really took off in the locale department. I personally connected with the US scenes featuring Sarah after the war.
The Passengers is a skilfully composed tale that infuses historical fact within one very engaging narrative. The structure of The Passengers, which employs the rich first person narrative voices of two unforgettable women, experiencing the same issues in life, despite the gap of time and impressed this reader greatly. Limprecht’s graceful writing style is to be relished, savoured and appreciated for its strength in all facets – the characters, setting, time period, narrative interest and its poignant conclusion. The Passengers is a book well worth your time to investigate and one that will appeal to readers far and wide.
*I wish to thank Allen & Unwin for providing me with a free copy of this book for review purposes.
The Passengers is book #15 of the Australian Women Writers Challenge
February 27, 2018
I so enjoyed this novel, The Passengers by Eleanor Limprecht. As you all know, historical fiction is my favourite, with war stories topping my preference within the genre, particularly ones that explore the lives of those living alongside war (as opposed to fighting in it), either at the home front, or in an invaded country. I guess this qualifies loosely as both: Australia being the home front that was invaded by American Servicemen to aid in the protection of our shores. This story orbits around the phenomenon of war brides, focusing on one in particular, Sarah, a nineteen year old country girl swept off her feet in a whirlwind romance with an urge to break free from home. I really liked Sarah, but I’ll return to her shortly. First, I just want to expand on the whole notion of war brides because the statistics cited within the novel are rather exceptional.
“The Army has created an organisation to handle every detail of transport of dependents of Americans from overseas – estimated to total 50,000 wives and 20,000 children…
All the husbands have to do will be to meet the train and take delivery of his wife after signing for her.”
I’m thinking that these figures included England, Australia, and any other European nations populated by American Servicemen during WWII. In Australia alone, that population drop would have been detrimental on the back of Australian Serviceman deaths, but say it does include England, and parts of Europe, this loss of women in the childbearing age group would have still been significant for all of the nations affected. Except for America who got a population boost. Fascinating to contemplate. I couldn’t resist including that little bit on the end; how convenient, just sign on the dotted line and off you go. Just like collecting a parcel.
Back to Sarah. She was quite a complex character. In some ways, very typical of her era:
“Not long after I got the job at the Quartermaster Corps I put a wedding dress on layby at Grace Bros. Wedding dresses were becoming scarce, and I didn’t want to miss out.”
This gave me a laugh. No boyfriend, much less a fiancé, but the expectation of being a bride was so commonplace that you just bought a dress regardless. Yet, Sarah was also a modern young woman who wanted more out of life. She didn’t know how to go about it, marrying for excitement and escape, rather than any true depth within a relationship. She was brave though, and took a bold step that many would have avoided, and I loved the way her path smoothed out, life offering her that something more she’d long been seeking.
This novel is split between eras, but not in the traditional way. Sarah is on a cruise as an eighty-something, returning to Australia after more than sixty years to reunite with the family she has left. Accompanying her is her granddaughter, Hannah. All throughout the journey, Sarah tells Hannah her life story, and this is where the past and present collide. I liked the way this all came together, the sharing of memories within a storytelling context. It bridged the years well and flowed beautifully, unfolding at a well evened pace.
I have to say though, I really didn’t connect to Hannah. It’s difficult to appreciate a character with a disorder or addiction; the very nature of their suffering ensures a degree of selfishness. Her self-hatred really began to wear me down, and I got to the end of the novel feeling no different about her. To me, her only purpose was to provide a set of ears for Sarah’s life story. Everything else seemed a distraction. And I didn’t really feel the authenticity of her disorder. The reasons for it seemed misappropriated and I felt her issues ran deeper than what was alluded to.
Overall, The Passengers is an exceptionally good read. There were times when Eleanor Limprecht had me spellbound by her beautiful prose. I loved her descriptions of America through Sarah’s fresh Australian gaze, particularly all the cultural differences. The difficulties associated with migrating alone to a new country, married to a man you hardly knew, with the expectation of assimilation into a never before met family, were well explored. Likewise, the homesickness, the loneliness, the sheer difference of everything; I was able to appreciate Sarah’s predicament with ease. I’m going to leave you with this passage, my favourite from the novel. It showcases the strong imagery Eleanor infuses into her narrative, and gives a good sense of Sarah, when she was quite possibly at her lowest.
“I was leaving behind everything I’d imagined for us, only it didn’t exist; it had never existed outside my head. It was in the trenches of New Guinea, maybe, the jungle prison, the rotting wounds of men. In my mother’s ear pressed to the radio, my father’s gaze as his empty glass was refilled with beer. Roy in the dark park, kneeling before me in the damp grass. Useless hope, chances we’d never have. Instead it was the flies on the filmy-eyed horses, the knowledge that life would never seem so full of possibility again.”
Thanks is extended to Allen & Unwin for providing me with a copy of The Passengers for review.
“The Army has created an organisation to handle every detail of transport of dependents of Americans from overseas – estimated to total 50,000 wives and 20,000 children…
All the husbands have to do will be to meet the train and take delivery of his wife after signing for her.”
I’m thinking that these figures included England, Australia, and any other European nations populated by American Servicemen during WWII. In Australia alone, that population drop would have been detrimental on the back of Australian Serviceman deaths, but say it does include England, and parts of Europe, this loss of women in the childbearing age group would have still been significant for all of the nations affected. Except for America who got a population boost. Fascinating to contemplate. I couldn’t resist including that little bit on the end; how convenient, just sign on the dotted line and off you go. Just like collecting a parcel.
Back to Sarah. She was quite a complex character. In some ways, very typical of her era:
“Not long after I got the job at the Quartermaster Corps I put a wedding dress on layby at Grace Bros. Wedding dresses were becoming scarce, and I didn’t want to miss out.”
This gave me a laugh. No boyfriend, much less a fiancé, but the expectation of being a bride was so commonplace that you just bought a dress regardless. Yet, Sarah was also a modern young woman who wanted more out of life. She didn’t know how to go about it, marrying for excitement and escape, rather than any true depth within a relationship. She was brave though, and took a bold step that many would have avoided, and I loved the way her path smoothed out, life offering her that something more she’d long been seeking.
This novel is split between eras, but not in the traditional way. Sarah is on a cruise as an eighty-something, returning to Australia after more than sixty years to reunite with the family she has left. Accompanying her is her granddaughter, Hannah. All throughout the journey, Sarah tells Hannah her life story, and this is where the past and present collide. I liked the way this all came together, the sharing of memories within a storytelling context. It bridged the years well and flowed beautifully, unfolding at a well evened pace.
I have to say though, I really didn’t connect to Hannah. It’s difficult to appreciate a character with a disorder or addiction; the very nature of their suffering ensures a degree of selfishness. Her self-hatred really began to wear me down, and I got to the end of the novel feeling no different about her. To me, her only purpose was to provide a set of ears for Sarah’s life story. Everything else seemed a distraction. And I didn’t really feel the authenticity of her disorder. The reasons for it seemed misappropriated and I felt her issues ran deeper than what was alluded to.
Overall, The Passengers is an exceptionally good read. There were times when Eleanor Limprecht had me spellbound by her beautiful prose. I loved her descriptions of America through Sarah’s fresh Australian gaze, particularly all the cultural differences. The difficulties associated with migrating alone to a new country, married to a man you hardly knew, with the expectation of assimilation into a never before met family, were well explored. Likewise, the homesickness, the loneliness, the sheer difference of everything; I was able to appreciate Sarah’s predicament with ease. I’m going to leave you with this passage, my favourite from the novel. It showcases the strong imagery Eleanor infuses into her narrative, and gives a good sense of Sarah, when she was quite possibly at her lowest.
“I was leaving behind everything I’d imagined for us, only it didn’t exist; it had never existed outside my head. It was in the trenches of New Guinea, maybe, the jungle prison, the rotting wounds of men. In my mother’s ear pressed to the radio, my father’s gaze as his empty glass was refilled with beer. Roy in the dark park, kneeling before me in the damp grass. Useless hope, chances we’d never have. Instead it was the flies on the filmy-eyed horses, the knowledge that life would never seem so full of possibility again.”
Thanks is extended to Allen & Unwin for providing me with a copy of The Passengers for review.
April 5, 2018
“I wore my canary yellow pencil skirt and jacket of light wool, with my best stockings and a pair of low-heeled black pumps. Folded on top of my suitcase in the rack above my seat was my cream belted coat, my matching hat and in the coat pocket a pair of black leather gloves. I wore my nicest things, for wherever I went I would be making an impression upon strangers, and I did not want them to guess what I knew about myself: that I was lost now. Far from safety, far from home.”
The Passengers is the third novel by critically acclaimed US-born author, Eleanor Limprecht. Hannah Fray is accompanying her grandmother, Sarah, on a cruise from San Diego to Sydney. Ostensibly this is to provide physical help for Sarah, elderly and thus frail, although Hannah’s strength is not a given. Sixty-eight years earlier, Sarah made the journey in reverse, travelling from Sydney as a war bride on the USS Mariposa to join her new husband, ex-US Army Officer Roy Jackson, now returned to the tobacco farm in Roanoke, Virginia.
As they enjoy the amenities the ship offers, Sarah candidly describes to Hannah not only her earlier trip, but also how she met and married Roy, and the family and homeland to which she has never returned. Hannah is captivated by Sarah’s stories, learning much she would never have guessed. “I wonder if hearing Grandma’s stories has something to do with this thrill I feel. I want to feel what she felt then. When life was simply lived, not dissected into a thousand pieces. When it was grabbed tight and squeezed because tomorrow it might not be there.”
But Hannah is also dealing with an ongoing problem of her own, something she has kept secret from her mother and grandmother. Although perhaps she hasn’t hidden it as well as she thought: “… I sensed it. It’s why I wanted you to come with me on this trip. I can see now how selfish I’ve been; I’ve probably made you worse off. But I wanted you close. I guess I hoped you’d want to talk about it, one day. I suppose it’s why I wanted to tell you about Roy. About the secrets I kept.”
Hannah has indeed been thinking about telling: “The thing about truth, though, is that if you decide to tell it you have to tell it all. You can’t hide some things and tell others. Because they’re all connected, the lies, like the scaffolding of a skyscraper. I imagine myself as a building inside, my structure rotten, the lies holding me up. I’m not strong enough without them. I’d certainly tumble to the ground.”
Limprecht’s third novel touches on a myriad of subjects including the demands of farming, and the pitfalls of important life decisions made under the desperate urgency of wartime deadlines. Survivor guilt, grief, adultery, xenophobia and anorexia nervosa also feature. Her plot is original and credible, and the depth of her research into Bride Ships is apparent on every page.
Her characters are easily believable, very human and sometimes prone to disappointing behaviour. She does allow them wise words: “Just because you mess up once doesn’t mean you can’t get it right.” And perceptive observations: “I think of Grandma last night, out beneath the stars, and how hard it is to align memory with past, how you imagine the world with how it has changed.”
The present-day narrative (Sarah and Hannah) alternates with one that begins in the mid-twentieth century on a dairy farm on the south coast of NSW. Also included are letters, pamphlets and newspaper articles. Limprecht gives the reader a wonderfully moving story that is also interesting and insightful, all wrapped in beautiful descriptive prose. Recommended.
Quotes from an Uncorrected Proof copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin.
The Passengers is the third novel by critically acclaimed US-born author, Eleanor Limprecht. Hannah Fray is accompanying her grandmother, Sarah, on a cruise from San Diego to Sydney. Ostensibly this is to provide physical help for Sarah, elderly and thus frail, although Hannah’s strength is not a given. Sixty-eight years earlier, Sarah made the journey in reverse, travelling from Sydney as a war bride on the USS Mariposa to join her new husband, ex-US Army Officer Roy Jackson, now returned to the tobacco farm in Roanoke, Virginia.
As they enjoy the amenities the ship offers, Sarah candidly describes to Hannah not only her earlier trip, but also how she met and married Roy, and the family and homeland to which she has never returned. Hannah is captivated by Sarah’s stories, learning much she would never have guessed. “I wonder if hearing Grandma’s stories has something to do with this thrill I feel. I want to feel what she felt then. When life was simply lived, not dissected into a thousand pieces. When it was grabbed tight and squeezed because tomorrow it might not be there.”
But Hannah is also dealing with an ongoing problem of her own, something she has kept secret from her mother and grandmother. Although perhaps she hasn’t hidden it as well as she thought: “… I sensed it. It’s why I wanted you to come with me on this trip. I can see now how selfish I’ve been; I’ve probably made you worse off. But I wanted you close. I guess I hoped you’d want to talk about it, one day. I suppose it’s why I wanted to tell you about Roy. About the secrets I kept.”
Hannah has indeed been thinking about telling: “The thing about truth, though, is that if you decide to tell it you have to tell it all. You can’t hide some things and tell others. Because they’re all connected, the lies, like the scaffolding of a skyscraper. I imagine myself as a building inside, my structure rotten, the lies holding me up. I’m not strong enough without them. I’d certainly tumble to the ground.”
Limprecht’s third novel touches on a myriad of subjects including the demands of farming, and the pitfalls of important life decisions made under the desperate urgency of wartime deadlines. Survivor guilt, grief, adultery, xenophobia and anorexia nervosa also feature. Her plot is original and credible, and the depth of her research into Bride Ships is apparent on every page.
Her characters are easily believable, very human and sometimes prone to disappointing behaviour. She does allow them wise words: “Just because you mess up once doesn’t mean you can’t get it right.” And perceptive observations: “I think of Grandma last night, out beneath the stars, and how hard it is to align memory with past, how you imagine the world with how it has changed.”
The present-day narrative (Sarah and Hannah) alternates with one that begins in the mid-twentieth century on a dairy farm on the south coast of NSW. Also included are letters, pamphlets and newspaper articles. Limprecht gives the reader a wonderfully moving story that is also interesting and insightful, all wrapped in beautiful descriptive prose. Recommended.
Quotes from an Uncorrected Proof copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin.
May 23, 2019
In Eleanor Limprecht’s captivating novel, The Passengers, a young woman is accompanying her grandmother from America to Australia after an absence of 68 years.
The narrative shifts smoothly between the present day, as the women journey on the cruise ship, and the past, as Sarah reminisces about her life.
“But Sydney isn’t home, love. Never was. Home is the farm we lost when I was sixteen.”
Hannah is fascinated by Sarah’s candid stories of her childhood on a dairy farm, her move to Sydney, her whirlwind romance with an American soldier during World War II, her journey in 1945 as a nineteen year old war bride on the USS Mariposa, and then her life in the US. Sarah shares her experiences both good and bad, of love and loss, and long held secrets. I was very invested in Sarah’s story which is beautifully told by Limprecht, and I was particularly interested in her experiences as a war bride, which I haven’t read a lot about.
“I wanted you close. I guess I hoped you’d want to talk about it, one day. I suppose it’s why I wanted to tell you about Roy. About the secrets I kept.”
While Hannah is ostensibly accompanying her 87 year old grandmother as a helpmate, Sarah hopes that by revealing her secrets on the journey that Hannah might do the same. I thought some of Hannah’s issues contrasted well with Sarah’s experiences, though her primary affliction was not one I found particularly effective in the context of this story.
Though it has its flaws, I thought The Passengers was a moving tale of joy, heartbreak, loss and adventure. I read it without pausing, and I will be looking for more by Eleanor Limprecht.
The narrative shifts smoothly between the present day, as the women journey on the cruise ship, and the past, as Sarah reminisces about her life.
“But Sydney isn’t home, love. Never was. Home is the farm we lost when I was sixteen.”
Hannah is fascinated by Sarah’s candid stories of her childhood on a dairy farm, her move to Sydney, her whirlwind romance with an American soldier during World War II, her journey in 1945 as a nineteen year old war bride on the USS Mariposa, and then her life in the US. Sarah shares her experiences both good and bad, of love and loss, and long held secrets. I was very invested in Sarah’s story which is beautifully told by Limprecht, and I was particularly interested in her experiences as a war bride, which I haven’t read a lot about.
“I wanted you close. I guess I hoped you’d want to talk about it, one day. I suppose it’s why I wanted to tell you about Roy. About the secrets I kept.”
While Hannah is ostensibly accompanying her 87 year old grandmother as a helpmate, Sarah hopes that by revealing her secrets on the journey that Hannah might do the same. I thought some of Hannah’s issues contrasted well with Sarah’s experiences, though her primary affliction was not one I found particularly effective in the context of this story.
Though it has its flaws, I thought The Passengers was a moving tale of joy, heartbreak, loss and adventure. I read it without pausing, and I will be looking for more by Eleanor Limprecht.
April 21, 2018
I loved this book. The writing and story structure are elegant, and I was emotionally invested in the characters of Sarah and her granddaughter Hannah, as they both undertake voyages that required immense leaps of faith. The storylines interweave, with Sarah relating her memories of her voyage from Sydney to Virginia as a WW2 war bride. The historical detail here is deep and illuminating, and I really felt the nerves that so many thousands of women must have experienced, leaving behind their homes and families for a new life based on what might have been fleeting romances and decisions made in extraordinary circumstances of war. Food is a recurrent motif in both these women's stories. For Sarah, each new step on her adventure out into a wider world away from the family farm is observed through the food she ate -- her innocent joy over discovering a BLT! -- and for Hannah, food deprivation is her only means of control over her body and life. Both stories showed for me how women are often reduced to their body -- as a sex object or domestic drudge, and that not much has changed. There is a lovely line about the past appearing prettier than it was, in memory and also in historical fiction. Some of my favourite scenes in The Passengers were those of Sarah's hardships on a Virginian tobacco farm, reminiscent of The Grapes of Wrath.
May 14, 2018
A young woman and her grandmother travel on a cruise together from the USA to Australia. For Sarah, it is a journey to the country of her birth, a place she has not seen since she left as a war bride in the 1940s. For Hannah, it is a chance to leave behind old hurts and discover a new land. Each tell their own story, in their own voices, each regretting mistakes they have made and people they have left behind.
Sarah’s story begins as a girl on a diary farm in New South Wales. Times are hard, and her father sells the farm and moves his family to Sydney. Sarah is forced to leave her beloved cattle dog behind. She finds work, and dreams of marriage, putting a white dress on layby. Sydney is full of American soldiers. There are fights and dances and flirtations. She falls in love and marries, and has just one night with her new husband before he is shipped out to Papua New Guinea. When the war ends, Sarah must leave her home and family and travel thousands of kilometres to a place she has never been, to live with a man she hardly knows.
As Sarah tells her story to her granddaughter, Hannah reveals some of her own secret vulnerabilities. Slowly the two stories echo and reflect each other, in clear lucid prose that glows with its own inner light.
Sarah’s story begins as a girl on a diary farm in New South Wales. Times are hard, and her father sells the farm and moves his family to Sydney. Sarah is forced to leave her beloved cattle dog behind. She finds work, and dreams of marriage, putting a white dress on layby. Sydney is full of American soldiers. There are fights and dances and flirtations. She falls in love and marries, and has just one night with her new husband before he is shipped out to Papua New Guinea. When the war ends, Sarah must leave her home and family and travel thousands of kilometres to a place she has never been, to live with a man she hardly knows.
As Sarah tells her story to her granddaughter, Hannah reveals some of her own secret vulnerabilities. Slowly the two stories echo and reflect each other, in clear lucid prose that glows with its own inner light.
March 21, 2018
In her novel The Passengers (Allen & Unwin Books 2018), Eleanor Limprecht uses the historical inspiration of the war brides of the 1940’s to deftly weave a tale of two women, both struggling in different ways with their past actions and their sense of identity.
Moving between the present and the past, the narrative takes us on two sea journeys across the world, seventy years apart. Sarah and her granddaughter Hannah are sailing from San Diego in California to Sydney, Australia, a country Sarah hasn’t seen since she left for the United States in 1945 on the USS Mariposa. Married young, and in the midst of conflict, Sarah travelled to join her American husband, never imagining the years that would pass before she ventured Home, or the secrets and lies she would keep close to avoid hurting her family. Hannah has her own demons – she lists and categorises every calorie she consumes, and she controls her body and her emotions by what she puts in her mouth. She embarks on the voyage for the sake of her grandmother, but comes to realise much about herself.
The US Government paid for thousands of war brides and their children to relocate from Australia and other countries to America, the women arriving en masse like a load of chattel or possessions. The uncertainty about their new country, and even doubts about the men they had married, left them ill-prepared for their new lives.
We meet Sarah as a young farm girl and grow with her through her adolescent years and into young adulthood. We travel with her to the small country town of Roanoke, USA, where she attempts to live out her fantasy of a happy marriage. And we grieve with her through the losses of war and the collapse of some of her most important dreams.
Hannah is also searching for love and for a sense of who she is and what she might become. During the (contemporary) journey south with Sarah, she comes to understand more about her grandmother and the life she has led, the sacrifices and choices she has made. She realises what her grandmother gave up, and what she gained, by being brave and resilient and determined. And she understands that she must also embrace these qualities, if she is to achieve her potential and overcome the challenges that she faces.
As with a number of books I’ve read recently, The Passengers introduces us to strong female characters who face seemingly insurmountable obstacles around family, career, love, children (and housework). Expectations around responsibilities that seem destined to tie them forever to a certain path. But these characters persist, doggedly, to push against those expectations, and to make their own choices – decisions of self-education and formal studies and the kind of work they are able to undertake; choices about who they will love, and how, and when; and most of all, the journey of their own self-discovery, about what they need and what they want, and the steps they will take to get it.
The structure of this novel connects the past to the now with a mirror reflection: the knowledge that while there is a world of difference between World War Two and now, and between the continents of Australia and North America, the similarity of emotions, hopes and dreams links us with those who have gone before. We realise that we have much more in common than what sets us apart.
Moving between the present and the past, the narrative takes us on two sea journeys across the world, seventy years apart. Sarah and her granddaughter Hannah are sailing from San Diego in California to Sydney, Australia, a country Sarah hasn’t seen since she left for the United States in 1945 on the USS Mariposa. Married young, and in the midst of conflict, Sarah travelled to join her American husband, never imagining the years that would pass before she ventured Home, or the secrets and lies she would keep close to avoid hurting her family. Hannah has her own demons – she lists and categorises every calorie she consumes, and she controls her body and her emotions by what she puts in her mouth. She embarks on the voyage for the sake of her grandmother, but comes to realise much about herself.
The US Government paid for thousands of war brides and their children to relocate from Australia and other countries to America, the women arriving en masse like a load of chattel or possessions. The uncertainty about their new country, and even doubts about the men they had married, left them ill-prepared for their new lives.
We meet Sarah as a young farm girl and grow with her through her adolescent years and into young adulthood. We travel with her to the small country town of Roanoke, USA, where she attempts to live out her fantasy of a happy marriage. And we grieve with her through the losses of war and the collapse of some of her most important dreams.
Hannah is also searching for love and for a sense of who she is and what she might become. During the (contemporary) journey south with Sarah, she comes to understand more about her grandmother and the life she has led, the sacrifices and choices she has made. She realises what her grandmother gave up, and what she gained, by being brave and resilient and determined. And she understands that she must also embrace these qualities, if she is to achieve her potential and overcome the challenges that she faces.
As with a number of books I’ve read recently, The Passengers introduces us to strong female characters who face seemingly insurmountable obstacles around family, career, love, children (and housework). Expectations around responsibilities that seem destined to tie them forever to a certain path. But these characters persist, doggedly, to push against those expectations, and to make their own choices – decisions of self-education and formal studies and the kind of work they are able to undertake; choices about who they will love, and how, and when; and most of all, the journey of their own self-discovery, about what they need and what they want, and the steps they will take to get it.
The structure of this novel connects the past to the now with a mirror reflection: the knowledge that while there is a world of difference between World War Two and now, and between the continents of Australia and North America, the similarity of emotions, hopes and dreams links us with those who have gone before. We realise that we have much more in common than what sets us apart.
August 15, 2018
3.5★ for an interesting premise, well-executed.
Hannah is accompanying her grandmother, Sarah, on a cruise from San Diego to Sydney, so that widowed Sarah can visit the homeland she last saw 68 years earlier. As they cross the Pacific, Sarah gradually tells Hannah the story of her life (some of it known, and some details revealed for the first time), including how she came to be a war-bride, and the secrets of her early years in the United States. Hannah has some secrets of her own, and by the time they arrive in Australia - in the final pages of the book - she seems to have found some kind of peace with her own past.
Recommended for those who enjoy Australian historical fiction.
Hannah is accompanying her grandmother, Sarah, on a cruise from San Diego to Sydney, so that widowed Sarah can visit the homeland she last saw 68 years earlier. As they cross the Pacific, Sarah gradually tells Hannah the story of her life (some of it known, and some details revealed for the first time), including how she came to be a war-bride, and the secrets of her early years in the United States. Hannah has some secrets of her own, and by the time they arrive in Australia - in the final pages of the book - she seems to have found some kind of peace with her own past.
Recommended for those who enjoy Australian historical fiction.
June 26, 2021
I really enjoyed this novel. I felt the characters were authentic and could feel their pain. I felt especially emotional about all that happened to Roy. His story brought tears to my eyes.
I found this novel to be beautifully written. It’s a rather simple story but one that would speak to the many out there who have experienced war, mental health issues, broken families, and the myriad of human emotions we all deal with... guilt being a big one.
I finished this book very quickly. I was well invested in each character.
I recommend this story for several reasons. The beautiful descriptions of Aussie farm life, Sydney during the war, the turmoil and emotions of the War Brides on the ship, settling in to a new and foreign land... and coming home.
A gorgeous read. Thank you Eleanor, I loved it.
I found this novel to be beautifully written. It’s a rather simple story but one that would speak to the many out there who have experienced war, mental health issues, broken families, and the myriad of human emotions we all deal with... guilt being a big one.
I finished this book very quickly. I was well invested in each character.
I recommend this story for several reasons. The beautiful descriptions of Aussie farm life, Sydney during the war, the turmoil and emotions of the War Brides on the ship, settling in to a new and foreign land... and coming home.
A gorgeous read. Thank you Eleanor, I loved it.
March 18, 2019
Wat een prachtig verhaal. <3
February 19, 2019
I didn’t know much about the war brides who went over to the States after the war, although a cousin of my grandmothers had been a war bride. It was interesting to read Sarah’s experience, and I enjoyed the cruise ship setting of the current day story. I’m now thinking of reading Jojo Moyes’ Ship of Brides for another war brides perspective.
I wasn’t quite so interested in Hannah’s storyline - the present-day story - as I felt it paled a little in comparison with Sarah’s.
This was a fairly easy read, although it definitely touches on difficult issues - there is a storyline with an eating disorder, so anyone who is struggling with this in their life or a loved one's might want to give this a miss. Or it might be an encouragement to be able to identify with a character with an eating disorder.
Last year must have been a year for books with a cruise ship setting as I’ve read three books in the past 4 or 5 months that were all published about 12 - 15 months prior and were all set on cruise ships!
I wasn’t quite so interested in Hannah’s storyline - the present-day story - as I felt it paled a little in comparison with Sarah’s.
This was a fairly easy read, although it definitely touches on difficult issues - there is a storyline with an eating disorder, so anyone who is struggling with this in their life or a loved one's might want to give this a miss. Or it might be an encouragement to be able to identify with a character with an eating disorder.
Last year must have been a year for books with a cruise ship setting as I’ve read three books in the past 4 or 5 months that were all published about 12 - 15 months prior and were all set on cruise ships!
June 6, 2020
A lovely story of the relationship between a granddaughter & grandmother. An easy read with historical facts of Australian war brides and modern day issues.
Recommend
Recommend
April 20, 2019
I loved it. Easy to read and so well researched around that time period. You can really feel Sarah's emotions as she goes off into the unknown. How brave all those war brides must have been. A must read!
April 23, 2020
Prachtig boek, erg genoten van de verhaallijn en de personages. Een echte aanrader.
May 5, 2018
This is a touching and beautiful novel about the passage of time, the choices we make and the way those decisions return to haunt us throughout our lives. Sarah and Hannah, two generations apart, are traveling to Sydney on a passenger liner. As Sarah shares the stories of her youth, from her childhood in Australia to the years spent raising a family on a farm in the United States, Hannah, her granddaughter, struggles to make sense of her place in the world and determine whether she can find happiness and peace. There was much to love about this book - lyrical passages of prose or description, buried in the quiet evocation of the everyday, would leap out suddenly and make the story sing. Cool mornings in the milking shed beneath the warm belly of a cow, a walk across the marbled, flower-scented showrooms of David Jones in Sydney's bustling CBD, a fragrant orchard in the wilds of Oregon; these are the images that will stay with me after I put The Passengers on my bookshelf beside Eleanor Limprecht's other novels. Some of the darker images will be there, too; moments of broken trust, betrayal, the disappointment of dreams unfulfilled, but this is the contract we make with authors, accepting the good in characters as well as the bad, what a friend of mine today referred to as 'kintsukori', the Japanese art of mending a broken vessel, the concept of truth in life.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
August 17, 2018
The initial chapters of The Passengers kept me interested, but then it seemed to taper off. I was tempted to DNF but kept reading because I’ve always been interested in the stories of Australian war brides and their experiences in foreign countries . Unfortunately the author seemed to skim over this part. I feel the secondary story of the granddaughter was superfluous and the book would have been better if the author had concentrated on the main character.
May 3, 2019
As the author of a GI romance inspired by a real life love story - Newcastle girl meets US Serviceman, I was very interested to read The Passengers. I was forewarned by a number of reviews (where readers didn’t like the character Hannah) but found as I got into the novel that I didn’t mind her part in the story. What I had problems with was Roy and the lack of information about his war service.
There was mention of service in the Philippines which immediately threw me as the majority of the US army serviceman who were stationed here during WWII were either from the 32nd or 41st divisions and they didn’t see service until later in 1942 (after they had been trained in beach landings in Australia). For a little while I thought maybe he was part of a special force but then nothing was mentioned. Roy also spoke about trenches. Trenches in the Philippines? That really jarred and sent me off on google.
Like many other readers I really enjoyed Limprecht’s depiction of Sarah’s early life on the farm, particularly in contrast to the life the family led when they moved to Sydney. I felt the tensions caused by the war and the family’s change of circumstances was well portrayed. A convincing depiction of the home-front in Sydney during WWII.
My reading was going well until Roy mentioned in his letters to Sarah that he thought he would see if he could get an early discharge. I mean really? There’s a war on but can I go home now? On what grounds did he think he could get an early discharge?
Soon after reading this the war is suddenly over. I was thinking it was probably late 1942 or early 1943 but no it was August 1945. So I’m not sure what happened to 2 and a 1/2 years in the narrative. Maybe I missed something.
Luckily my reading experience in the second half of the book was smoother. Sarah’s life as a GI war bride is spot on. Some of the difficulties she faced are what many young Australian girls faced (the voyage to the US is particularly vivid) and Limprecht again is very strong highlighting tensions. The echoes between Hannah and Sarah at the end are quite haunting and bump it up half a star to three and a half stars.
There was mention of service in the Philippines which immediately threw me as the majority of the US army serviceman who were stationed here during WWII were either from the 32nd or 41st divisions and they didn’t see service until later in 1942 (after they had been trained in beach landings in Australia). For a little while I thought maybe he was part of a special force but then nothing was mentioned. Roy also spoke about trenches. Trenches in the Philippines? That really jarred and sent me off on google.
Like many other readers I really enjoyed Limprecht’s depiction of Sarah’s early life on the farm, particularly in contrast to the life the family led when they moved to Sydney. I felt the tensions caused by the war and the family’s change of circumstances was well portrayed. A convincing depiction of the home-front in Sydney during WWII.
My reading was going well until Roy mentioned in his letters to Sarah that he thought he would see if he could get an early discharge. I mean really? There’s a war on but can I go home now? On what grounds did he think he could get an early discharge?
Soon after reading this the war is suddenly over. I was thinking it was probably late 1942 or early 1943 but no it was August 1945. So I’m not sure what happened to 2 and a 1/2 years in the narrative. Maybe I missed something.
Luckily my reading experience in the second half of the book was smoother. Sarah’s life as a GI war bride is spot on. Some of the difficulties she faced are what many young Australian girls faced (the voyage to the US is particularly vivid) and Limprecht again is very strong highlighting tensions. The echoes between Hannah and Sarah at the end are quite haunting and bump it up half a star to three and a half stars.
September 23, 2018
2 1/2 rounded up as I actually read all of it. Well, what a simple, story, simply written. Might be better rated YA. The 'traumas' that they all suffered seemed very light-weight, to me.
December 2, 2019
This was a heart warming story that was so easy to read. There are a lot books around with dual timelines and I really loved the way Eleanor Limprecht linked them through the back and forth of the storytelling between grandmother and granddaughter.
September 4, 2019
A cruise ship departing San Diego to Australia; onboard Sarah, grandmother and granddaughter, Hannah. One headed home after 68 years away, the other in search of a place in the world in which she is in control, but more importantly, a place in which all her past hurts can be left behind, even if just for the duration of this trip.
I really enjoyed the fact that this story was told from the two different viewpoints of Sarah and Hannah, and how easily it flowed between the two without any disruption to this story. However, one of the reasons I connected with this story so strongly I believe was the characters and the travel elements used.
The author has done an outstanding job of bringing her story to life in the minds of her readers. I was able to really visualize the story that was being told to me and the locations come to pass me by as I turned the pages. I can certainly see myself sitting alongside Sarah as she delves back into her past. Character realism is one of Eleanor Limprecht’s strengths as a writer.
So many Historical Fiction novels focus on what happens after the war and the everlasting effects it has on the returned servicemen and their wives adjusting to the change in their fathers, husband, brothers. Although I agree that's an important aspect, it was a refreshing change to see a woman's perspective in this era too, with men still largely included.
I must have been so engrossed in The Passengers that I wasn't expecting it to come to a close the way it did. The reader in me selfishly wanted more time with my new friend, Sarah. I wanted to know how Hannah gets on in her future, but at the same time, we don't always know how things are going to turn out in the upcoming chapters of our lives, if only! Or how our loved ones spend their days if we are not there to witness it, so I can appreciate the point of closure here. We are all passengers throughout some points in our lives.
Anyone looking to try Historical Fiction could start here.
I really enjoyed the fact that this story was told from the two different viewpoints of Sarah and Hannah, and how easily it flowed between the two without any disruption to this story. However, one of the reasons I connected with this story so strongly I believe was the characters and the travel elements used.
The author has done an outstanding job of bringing her story to life in the minds of her readers. I was able to really visualize the story that was being told to me and the locations come to pass me by as I turned the pages. I can certainly see myself sitting alongside Sarah as she delves back into her past. Character realism is one of Eleanor Limprecht’s strengths as a writer.
So many Historical Fiction novels focus on what happens after the war and the everlasting effects it has on the returned servicemen and their wives adjusting to the change in their fathers, husband, brothers. Although I agree that's an important aspect, it was a refreshing change to see a woman's perspective in this era too, with men still largely included.
I must have been so engrossed in The Passengers that I wasn't expecting it to come to a close the way it did. The reader in me selfishly wanted more time with my new friend, Sarah. I wanted to know how Hannah gets on in her future, but at the same time, we don't always know how things are going to turn out in the upcoming chapters of our lives, if only! Or how our loved ones spend their days if we are not there to witness it, so I can appreciate the point of closure here. We are all passengers throughout some points in our lives.
Anyone looking to try Historical Fiction could start here.
April 30, 2022
The Passengers is a superbly crafted novel. Beautifully constructed and Limprecht moves seamlessly chapter by chapter swapping between her two main characters (all told in the first person).
The Passengers is amongst the best novels I have ever read. And timely too. I had just read a series of novels which were most disappointing. Second rate really. So I was about to return to reading biographies and the like and avoid novels. Enter Limprecht's masterpiece. I discovered her books after reading her historical novel Long Bay. Another beauty.
I have given The Passengers 5 stars but if I could I would score it 4.5 for some of the disappointing crude language. There wasn't much inappropriate language but it seems to have been inserted just for the sake of it. Some of it was very distasteful which is disappointing as I would not recommend the book to my mother in law for example. No one finishes a good book and says: "I wish there was more swearing!" but they do object when there is. Anyway food for thought.
Apart from this blemish The Passengers is outstanding and I look forward to her next piece op work. Thoroughly recommended.
The Passengers is amongst the best novels I have ever read. And timely too. I had just read a series of novels which were most disappointing. Second rate really. So I was about to return to reading biographies and the like and avoid novels. Enter Limprecht's masterpiece. I discovered her books after reading her historical novel Long Bay. Another beauty.
I have given The Passengers 5 stars but if I could I would score it 4.5 for some of the disappointing crude language. There wasn't much inappropriate language but it seems to have been inserted just for the sake of it. Some of it was very distasteful which is disappointing as I would not recommend the book to my mother in law for example. No one finishes a good book and says: "I wish there was more swearing!" but they do object when there is. Anyway food for thought.
Apart from this blemish The Passengers is outstanding and I look forward to her next piece op work. Thoroughly recommended.
March 20, 2018
Sarah was a war bride who travelled to America on a cruise ship to meet the husband she met and married during the second world war. Now she's returning to Australia on a cruise ship with her grand-daughter Hannah, and as they travel she tells her grand-daughter the story of her life. This is a story about family secrets and the toll they take. A story about learning from previous generations. And a great insight into history. I loved it.
February 25, 2018
A beautiful story about Sarah, a war bride returning to Australia for the first time in over 60 years with her granddaughter Hannah. As they travel from the US, we are told Sarah’s story and learn about Hannah’s story.
I found this a really easy and engaging read and while I felt there was a lot more detail in the early years, I demolished it in a day and found myself in tears by the end.
Thanks to Allen & Unwin for my copy - a prize for sharing a memorable journey via Instagram
I found this a really easy and engaging read and while I felt there was a lot more detail in the early years, I demolished it in a day and found myself in tears by the end.
Thanks to Allen & Unwin for my copy - a prize for sharing a memorable journey via Instagram
May 6, 2018
I really enjoyed the narrative, and the insights into what it might have been like to be the Australian war bride to a US serviceman, but I didn’t feel involved with the lives of the two main characters and there were times when I was confused as to which voice was speaking. Worth a read though, nevertheless.
February 2, 2018
I was lucky to have this as an arc. It was lovely two people 2 different journeys one a War Bride the other dealing with many inner turmoils of her own. How one discovers the others hurts is the central joining here.
September 19, 2018
Found it a very interesting read...
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