Nada Khalaf

The night faded to dawn, and dawn to morning. Early, but perhaps not so bright as artillery shells have been raining down on us, destroying the world. “Take him back to the front lines!” A sergeant Major Haking ordered. I turned back to see who and at whom he was speaking to. A poor-looking man who was addressed as Farr by some other soldiers can be seen struggling, kicking and saying he wanted to see a doctor. After further commotion. The sergeant shouted, “Let him go!”, and Farr ran off. “We’ll take him to be marshalled!” Was the last I heard of the sergeant. Heh…as if I know what that means. I guess I’m going to find out I think, before following the sergeant. The sergeant leads the way to a huge tent. Once we enter, I can see a human being sitting on a chair in the middle of the room. On the right is a small group of officers, sitting on the courts-martial. They were addressed by “prisoner’s friend”; beside them sat Harry Farr. Sergeant Major Haking: ‘On 17 September, at ...

 HOME, HEARTACHE & HOPE Before We Were Yours, Lisa Wingate, Historical Fiction 5 Stars Gripping, rending and warming ‘before we were yours’ consists of a dual narrative, set in both the 1930s and the present day. The foremost plot is the haunting truth of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. The book is packed full of adventure and frequent coincidences, which leave you wanting to read more and more. In this book we get to spend time with the Foss family that lives on a shanty boat on the Mississippi in 1939, moving north and south on the river along with the seasons. Their level of poverty is hard to imagine, but the family of five children and their parents are all supportive of each other. There is music, singing, storytime, and a group effort to find fish, frogs or whatever to eat. There is even a rudimentary community among the shanty boat dwellers; they travel along the same routes and tie up in the same areas, then move on. An unexpected complication with the...