Several books have been written about Australian nurses in the Pacific theatre of World War II, particularly those on Bangka Island, Indonesia, after being shipwrecked.
The only survivor of an atrocity at the hands of Japanese soldiers on the island, Sister Vivian Bullwinkel was immortalised by a statue at the Australian War Memorial in 2023, commissioned by the Australian College of Nursing Foundation.
Of all those accounts, this book for younger readers by Davis, a West Australian author, playwright and theatre director, is the first to document Vivian Bullwinkel’s friendship with a teenage girl in the same prisoner-of-war camp.
The two stayed friends for the rest of their lives. Decades before this book was written, they had contacted the theatre company staging a play about a nurse and a young civilian in a World War II camp, in which Jenny Davis was performing, to tell of the close resemblance of the play to their own story.
The teenager was Edith Kenneison, known as Edie, but privately preferring to be called Bet. Her British family lived in Malaya, and she had been taken to Singapore by her grandparents to avoid capture by the Japanese, but their evacuation ship was bombed, and her grandfather disappeared.
She and her step-grandmother were in the same camp as nurses from Singapore, including Vivian Bullwinkel.
Edie met Vivian only when she needed treatment for sores. This sensitively written tale tells the story of their friendship as Vivian provides mentorship and care for the teenager.
Reviewed by Jennifer Somerville
Age Guide 9+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Surrey, England, Jenny lives in Perth with her husband and has had a forty-year theatrical career, appearing in many leading roles for all the major theatre companies in Perth, as well as productions touring around Australia, New Zealand and Brazil.
In 1993, Jenny founded Agelink Theatre – now THEATRE 180 – and has written many plays for them. Including the original concept for The Lighthouse Girl Saga, combining stage and cinema screen. She has also been an acclaimed director for the stage for more than 30 years for many theatre companies. Some productions touring nationally and internationally, including her own plays, Dear Heart and Cis and Barbiche.
She has appeared in many ABC radio dramas, was artistic director of the WA Youth Theatre for 10 years and writer for ABC schools’ radio for a decade. She has worked to bring generations together in theatre projects, inspired by the seniors in her life and her own children and grandchildren.
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