Doing our bit: New Zealand women tell their stories of World War Two

by Jim Sullivan (Editor)

Interviews with fifty New Zealand women about their service in World War Two. Their stories are funny, tragic, compassionate and above all honest - showing the courage and fortitude of a generation of Kiwi women who were also, wives, sisters, daughters and fiancees of men on active service.

238 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[𝐫𝐨𝐫𝐲✱ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated the few female aviators and their stories but by god I wished there were more women in this space that should have been recorded but oh well.

[Norma Bethune · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read, though I'd have liked more details or for some of the stories to be expanded on. I felt several of the stories came into the "once over lightly" category … I'd like to have seen these women encouraged to expand on things they recalled.
As mentioned at the beginning of the book, first-hand accounts of this time period won't be able to be obtained for much longer. I'd have liked more details of the mundane day-to-day conditions people had to endure because of war-time restrictions, of both goods and personal freedoms.
In many stories I found myself thinking, "oh, yes, I remember being told about that", but many younger readers whose parents don't have such memories to pass on may well miss the very subtle points being made.
The spelling or grammatical typos were disappointing, too … the first four words of the Introduction read: "In 'Doing Our But' …".
Despite the criticisms, I enjoyed this book … the author has a very readable writing style!