November 2023

• ISBN: 9781460760468
• ISBN 10: 1460760468
• Imprint: HarperCollins AU
• RRP: $17.99

Yet again, Jackie brings her extraordinary talent for both unearthing hidden history, and weaving it into gripping narrative to readers. It seems that shedding light on the long-lost life stories of women in action of all kinds, is a particular passion. I have been waiting for almost two months to post this review after reading the ARC, and though the release date is still a fortnight away, Remembrance Day seems perfect timing to share it.

This new drama/adventure is one based on true events, that were swept aside by the British War Office (like so many other incidents), rather than acknowledge the outstanding contribution made by women – or, in this, case a girl.

16-year-old Jean McClain is the youngest child of middle-class teacher parents, and working in her local village post office, when she wins a national Morse code competition. Her amazing accuracy and speed cannot fail to attract the notice of the War Office, who subsequently secretly recruit her to become a battlefield signaller in war-ravaged France.

The struggle to gain some ascendancy in the bloodbath that is 1917 on French soil, where tanks, shrapnel, gas, mud, death pervade is a grim and dangerous setting for a mere teenaged girl, but then there were plenty of young men, not much older – and indeed, likely enough some the same age. Jean is stout of heart, pragmatic and determined to play as equal a part as her two older brothers, and then there is one Major Galbraith, to strengthen her resolve. It is absolutely imperative that the signals must continue to flow without interruption if the Allied forces are to succeed, and Jean’s resolve is fixed, without compromise.

In an Australian country town in 1978, Jean and her motorbike pick up a teen boy, and they both manage to evade the rushing floodwaters descending on their locality. Perched on top of a hill, in relative safety, Jean recounts her history during the long, wet and uncomfortable night. The relationship forged that seemingly never-ending night between Jean and Arjun lasts till her death in 2005, though the boy had only known her for one night.

This is a remarkable tribute to the unsung heroes that were the female signallers of the Great War, and there were many of these. As the men were killed, the women postal workers were recruited, and subsequently erased from history by the British War Office who neither wanted to admit they needed their invaluable assistance, nor to admit liability for pensions and/or medical assistance.

Whoever said the men that ran that war were incompetent and unscrupulous mongrels was completely correct (that was my Dad actually, but I’m sure many others have echoed the thought.)

As always Jackie has provided her readers with some factual information at the end of the book about the technicalities of signalling (especially in the field) and also the body of female signallers so callously wiped from the history books.

Once again, I am delighted to give this my highest recommendation, especially for readers in Upper Primary/Mid-secondary, and, also, urge you to recommend this to your students of WW1 history as a ‘read around your topic’ book. The descriptions of the conditions of the battlefields, artillery and trench warfare are particularly valuable for this purpose.

Cambrai 1917: How The World’s First Great Tank Battle Unfolded

Lest we forget 🌹