Beyond the Sea by Christian Lamb: book review

Beyond the Sea: A Wren at War (2021) is the memoir of Englishwoman Christian Lamb during the Second World War.

Christian Lamb (1920-) begins writing her memoir – her fifth book – at the age of 101 during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She writes of growing up for two years in Malta in a naval family, and France for a year, before joining the Women’s Royal Naval Service (the Wrens) in 1940 as a coder. Her experience at the ‘wrenery’ in London included the wartime bombing Blitz in 1940-1941 in which 20,000 Londoners died. She quickly moves onto the war in the Atlantic and beyond, and her decoding work at Bletchley Park.

This memoir is the extraordinary life of duty in a secret and vital role in the British wartime radar and operations rooms: the training, the strict security, the incoming traffic, the intercepts, the orders, the codes, the translations of German messages, and Winston Churchill’s secret visits to Bletchley Park to thank the decoding wrens in September 1941. Churchill recognized the extreme importance of the wrens as ‘geese that laid the golden eggs.’ He gave directives to his staff to “make sure that they have all they want. Report to me that this has been done. Extreme priority.”

Christian Lamb writes of off-duty fun, and working with naval officers in Plymouth, and love letters from Lennox. She married John Lamb in 1943 after dating for 10 days.

She writes of John’s war, the importance of weather, and clairvoyant cats. And of her life after the wrens.

This book is a sweeping coverage of her life, so it‘s now time to read her previous four books – and hoping that she is currently writing her sixth book at the age of 102.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

MARTINA NICOLLS

MartinaNicollsWebsite

SUBSCRIBE TO MARTINA NICOLLS FOR NEWS AND UPDATES

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international human rights-based consultant in education, healing and wellbeing, peace and stabilization, foreign aid audits and evaluations, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

Comments

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing

FEAST OR FAMINE

Search This Blog