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FALLING IN SNOW BY MARY-ROSE MACCOLL

30/10/2015

49 Comments

 
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A vivid and compelling story of love, war and secrets, set against the backdrop of WWI France. 'In the beginning, it was the summers I remembered - long warm days under the palest blue skies, the cornflowers and forget-me-nots lining the road through the Lys forest, the buzz of insects going about their work, Violet telling me lies.' Iris is getting old. A widow, her days are spent living quietly and worrying about her granddaughter, Grace, a headstrong young doctor. It's a small sort of life. But one day an invitation comes for Iris through the post to a reunion in France, where she served in a hospital during WWI. Determined to go, Iris is overcome by the memories of the past, when as a shy, naive young woman she followed her fifteen-year-old brother, Tom, to France in 1914 intending to bring him home. On her way to find Tom, Iris comes across the charismatic Miss Ivens, who is setting up a field hospital in the old abbey of Royaumont, north of Paris. Putting her fears aside, Iris decides to stay at Royaumont, and it is there that she truly comes of age, finding her capability and her strength, discovering her passion for medicine, making friends with the vivacious Violet and falling in love. But war is a brutal thing, and when the ultimate tragedy happens, there is a terrible price that Iris has to pay, a price that will echo down the generations. A moving and uplifting novel about the small, unsung acts of heroism of which love makes us capable.

This novel takes you on a journey to the past in France and Australia during World War I, as you read from an Australian viewpoint.

Iris is a young Australian nurse who travels to World War I in France in hopes of returning home with her fifteen-year-old brother, who had run away to fight the war against his father’s wishes. During her journey to retrieve him, she comes across a young physician who convinces her to stay and lend a helping hand in the founding of an army hospitable entirely run by females. She decides to help, believing it would better her chances of finding her brother. Soon Iris finds herself caught up in all the commotion as she finds herself now a nurse and an administrator at the new hospitable. There she sees the consequences of war and the great impacts it afflicts.

Sixty years after the War, Iris receives an invitation inviting her to come back to France to celebrate their 60th anniversary As Iris reads through the letter, we follow her into a journey of the past as she relieves her time as a nurse and decides to go back, even though some painful memories await her. With her granddaughter Grace along her side, we as readers as see the dynamic contracts of both their lives, and what Iris will do to protect her family. Both their stories became intertwined in unexpected ways.

I enjoyed how the novel constantly shifted from the present to the past, as Iris recalls the past at the near end of her days. It was interesting to view what it was like during World War I for the women who served as nurses and doctors in the era of World War I. It was also just as intriguing to learn that during those times, there happened to be a hospitable run merely by women, out on the Western Front. The history and experiences were well written and made you want to find out more of what really happened back then.
***I received a copy of this book in return for an honest and unbiased review***
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Mary-Rose MacColl is an Australian writer whose first novel, No Safe Place, was runner-up in the 1995 Australian Vogel literary award. Her first non-fiction book, The Birth Wars, was a finalist in the 2009 Walkley Awards. In Falling Snow (October 2012), Mary-Rose's fourth novel, tells the largely unknown story of a small group of Scottish women who ran a field hospital for France in World War I in an old abbey. MacColl holds degrees in journalism and creative writing and lives between Brisbane, Australia and Banff, Canada with her husband and son.


In Falling Snow by Mary-Rose MacColl
49 Comments
Nolly Kerkswartech
26/4/2015 04:39:09 am

Thanks for sharing this novel. At school we have to work in groups and chose a book to read based on WWI. And my group's topic happened to be what were the role of women. So I think we'll be choosing this one as it sounds great, and might be something I'll enjoy reading for school for once! Thank you again

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Abooktopia link
29/4/2015 11:19:23 am

Your welcome! Hopefully your fellow group members will also just be as willing to read this novel as you are. I also hope that if your group does read this novel, that you will all enjoy it as I know how reading books for school and be quite dull.

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Nolly Kerkswartech
2/5/2015 03:23:19 am

Yeah we've all agreed to read this novel, so we had to go out and purchase copies online. They should be arriving in a few days, so I'm pretty pumped to start reading it.

Abooktopia link
4/5/2015 03:16:27 am

That's great! I hope you and your friends will all enjoy this novel.

Nolly Kerkswartech
5/5/2015 05:56:00 am

Same here :)

Chanda
26/4/2015 08:01:53 am

Do like a good historical fiction

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Sandra Cassiograce
26/4/2015 03:49:04 pm

Something different

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Jessica
27/4/2015 12:35:37 am

Think I'll give it ago. Not much of a historical readers

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Sonya
28/4/2015 12:33:34 am

Neither am I

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Teagan Hall
4/5/2015 03:24:47 am

But I am!

Sonya
5/5/2015 05:56:46 am

Haha History Geek :)

Teagan Hall
5/5/2015 12:22:22 pm

Born and proud! =D

Sonya
6/5/2015 10:43:25 am

So you should be! Wish I were one, or even a maths geek. That would make life so much easier.

Teagan Hall
9/5/2015 04:50:27 am

yes! That would make life so much better too! Oh and I'd also want to be a science geek, since I suck at science so badly

Sonya
9/5/2015 11:10:10 am

I try to like science. I mean it's incredibly interesting, but it's so damn hard, that I lose interest in the subject matter.

Teagan Hall
10/5/2015 10:23:09 am

Ahem sister!

Lilian Archletch
27/4/2015 01:52:36 pm

About time you wrote a review for my kinda book taste. Thanks for the suggestion.

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Abooktopia link
9/5/2015 04:52:46 am

I suppose it is! Your welcome as well.

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Lilian Archletch
10/5/2015 10:24:08 am

You should definitely do more. Plus reviews for classics, though I suppose they would be harder to write.....

DarkHunter101
28/4/2015 03:11:47 pm

Nice to see something a little different. Must have been a good read.

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Abooktopia link
5/5/2015 05:57:39 am

It truly was! Sometimes it's nice to have a break from all the YA novels, and read something a little worthwhile.

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DarkHunter101
9/5/2015 04:49:00 am

I always enjoy a good break as well.

Elena Zawilski
29/4/2015 11:20:25 am

I love historical fiction! Have you read The Book Thief?

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Abooktopia link
1/5/2015 03:29:39 pm

I have actually! I really enjoyed and found that is was even more enjoyable when I was also learning about Adolf Hitler in History at school.

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Elena Zawilski
2/5/2015 03:01:57 pm

I really loved how it was written at times from Death's perspective which was really interesting. It's always nicer to have background information of the time setting as something that you may have disregard as invaluable information, turns out to be of quite importance.

Abooktopia link
5/5/2015 05:59:14 am

That was something unique altogether. Yeah, it was much nicer to have some background knowledge as I found that I became a lot more aware of what was happening in the novel, and why.

Elena Zawilski
10/5/2015 04:29:13 pm

There were a lot of hidden hints that you didn't understand the proper meaning until you knew the history behind it all.

Josh Noah
30/4/2015 01:41:52 pm

This is actually one of my moms favs

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Carina Watson-Gail
16/5/2015 07:46:35 am

Have you read it yet?

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Carina Watson-Gail
16/5/2015 07:47:25 am

My mother also owns a copy. She read it sometime last year, but I don't know if I should read it as well.

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Josh Noah
22/5/2015 05:22:35 am

No I have not. I'm not really the history kinda person. Maybe you should ask your mum more about it and what she thought of it? I know my mum would encourage you to give it a go and see how it is.

Katy Benson
5/5/2015 06:04:17 am

Seems interesting. May give this a go when I get sick of YA, thoughs that's very rare.

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Skyler Fairchild
9/5/2015 11:42:07 am

That is true, but it does happen, especially when you have one of those reading slumps.

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Tatiana May
6/5/2015 10:43:49 am

Sounds really good. Will have to check it out.

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Katherine
6/5/2015 01:20:28 pm

What's the average rating?

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Emma Smith
7/5/2015 09:41:29 am

I think it's 3

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Katherine
7/5/2015 04:09:59 pm

Thank you.

Katherine
7/5/2015 04:10:35 pm

But is it 3 out of 5 or 3 out of 10? I just want to double check.

Emma Smith
9/5/2015 04:53:17 am

Out of 5

Katherine
10/5/2015 10:30:13 am

Ok thanks

Emma Smith
10/5/2015 04:32:12 pm

Your welcome.

Sally West
7/5/2015 11:33:52 pm

I just found your blog and I just wanted to say I really love it! The layout is clear, the reviews are great, and I love how you supply the link to each novel so I can find them on Goodreads easily. I will definitely be coming back to this site.

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Abooktopia link
9/5/2015 04:57:10 am

I'm so happy to know you love it! I hope you continue to contribute to my blog, and come back to it every now and again.

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Sally West
10/5/2015 04:31:44 pm

I definitely will! Your blogs seems really popular and so many people feel comfortable to comment on here, no matter how small their comment is, which is really great as it makes new visitors feel welcome and not being afraid to comment.

Delilah
11/5/2015 11:06:16 am

I remember my english teacher recommending me this as I am a bit of a history geek, if I do say so myself. The story is wonderfully written, and takes you on a fantastic journey into the past. I highly recommend this fantastic novel!

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Valerie Winehouse
22/5/2015 05:24:28 am

It's great to find a book about World War I as there are mainly novels and more information about WW2

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Charlotte Harpe
22/5/2015 07:18:36 am

It seems fairly good. I really enjoyed the Book Thief, and think I would enjoy this just as well.

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Shaye
24/5/2015 06:21:02 am

Nooooo! Fantasy please come back! jks. But seriously I love fantasy. It's actually great to read a book once in a while that is closer to reality and has a bit of history in it that we can learn from.

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Kelly Stephenson
27/5/2015 11:13:02 am

I should totally have a histroy streak when I start the book thief and farm animal.

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