In her second novel, Olivia Spooner shines a light on a little-known group of Kiwi women, the Tuis, who were sent first to Egypt and then on to Italy during World War II. The women travelled in support of the New Zealand Second Division, headed by Lieutenant-General Sir Bernard Freyberg. The Tuis were the brainchild of his wife, Lady Barbara Freyberg, and were part of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps.
In June 1942, the Tuis arrived in Cairo, when the Germans were winning the war in North Africa, played out in harsh desert conditions. The Tuis worked in the NZ Army clubs, often requisitioned hotels, where soldiers came for R&R during their breaks from fighting.
The Tuis were there to help with morale, give the Kiwi soldiers a taste of home and help them forget the challenges of war. At the clubs, they made sandwiches, served afternoon tea, were soldiers’ dance partners, visited the fallen in hospital and helped them write letters home. It wasn’t all pleasant; they experienced prejudice and sexual misconduct.
As the story starts in Cairo, we’re quickly invested in the main characters. There’s Margot, a grief-stricken young widow from Masterton whose husband died in Crete. Bookish and quiet, she’s happiest working in the library at the club, talking with soldiers seeking a refuge.
Addy, her roommate, is a beautiful livewire, delighted to have broken away from her conservative Auckland family and making the most of every new experience. The two become friends and are soon joined by Margot’s brother Grahame and his good friend Tom, who are in the New Zealand Second Division. Margot also meets a married soldier, Henry, whom she can’t forget.
Although there’s a glamour to their new lives, the Tuis are fully aware of the dangers the soldiers are facing. They’re there for the Battle of El Alamein and see the Egyptians preparing for a German takeover.
By the time the Second Division and the Tuis move on to Italy in November 1943, they’re not the people they had been.
After three years of fighting, many Kiwi soldiers thought they had done their bit and were ready to go home. But after a furlough home, Churchill had them redeployed to Italy, leaving American soldiers to protect their loved ones in the escalating war in the Pacific. This created real anguish among NZ soldiers in Europe, who heard about the Yanks wooing their wives and girlfriends at home.
And more trauma awaits them in Italy in 1944. The Germans are not leaving peacefully and the battles for the Second Division and allies, which included the Battle of Monte Cassino, are slow, brutal and costly.
For Margot, despite the constant worry for the troops, Italy intrigues her and she learns new skills in her time there, as does Addy.
The men at war, though, become shadows of themselves. Tom resists forming relationships, as he reasons being in love makes you vulnerable. “You can’t be human when you charge at some German,” he says.
The reality of a long cruel war far from home is well portrayed by Spooner, author of The Girl from London. Her characters are richly developed and real, her descriptions of the locations, from Cairo to Bari, Rome and Florence, well drawn.
At the end, we see Addy and Margot 20 years later and learn how their wartime experience has affected their life back home.
Spooner has said she struggled with writing this book, but admirers of her work are likely to think it was well worth the effort.
The Songbirds of Florence, by Olivia Spooner (Hachette, $37.99), is out now.
