Open Fire by Amber Lough

Seventeen-year-old Ekaterina Viktorovna (Katya) Pavlova lives in Petrograd, Russia where she works in a factory making the M1914 stick grenade, filling each one with 320 grams of TNT. Katya's father, Colonel Pavlova is at the front fighting the Germans while her brother Maxim Victorovich is at home recovering from his wounds. Katya had been attending university studying to be a chemist, but  had dropped out to help with the war effort.

On February 23, 1941, Masha Gubina, Katya's best friend convinces her to attend the women's march on Nevsky Prospeckt, Petrograd's main street. Katya is not keen to attend but she agrees. At the march, Katya encounters Sergei Fyodorovich Grigorev, a friend from university. Sergei is a Bolshevik. Katya, whose father is a colonel in the Imperial Army, has been taught to be loyal to the Tsar. Despit this, at Sergie's urging, Katya attends the march.

Socialists along with grandmothers, mothers and school girls begin chanting "Free the people. Free the workers! Free the bread!" Then suddenly the Cossacks, cavalry in the Imperial Army appear. The Cossack leader tells them to end the march and go home. When the marchers do not disperse, and someone throws a rock at the Cossack commander, the soldiers aim their rifles and open fire. Katya is horrified that Russians would fire on their own people.

Katya reveals to Sergei that she knows about the Tsar through her father's connections. This leads him to attempt to enlist Katya to pass on information about the Tsar to the Bolsheviks who want the Tsar to abdicate so they can form a socialist government to run the country. However, Katya, still loyal to the Tsar, refuses.

At home Katya discovers that Maxim has gambled away the money she saved to pay off his debts. Maxim had been at the front for two years when he was injured during a battle in October. Now home recovering, he has nightmares and can't sleep and spends his time gambling. He is unable to work because once employed he will be sent back to the front. As a last attempt, he decides to write their father to ask for a discharge. Maxim's debts leave Katya no choice but to supply Sergei and the Bolsheviks with information about the Tsar.

To this end, Katya attends a dinner at General Yudenich and Elena Stefanova's home. General Yudenich's son, Ilya was killed in action November 9, 1915. Katya secretly loved Ilya. They had spent their childhood together; he taught Katya about military rules, how to march, and how to hold a gun and saber. At the dinner Katya learns about Sergeant Bochkareva who wants to form a women's battalion to shame the Russian men who are fleeing the front. She has obtained permission from General Kerensky, the Minister of War to do so.

The Women's March ends up bringing down the government, forcing Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate and the forming of a moderate provisional government. In the factory, Katya begins making gas grenades filled with chloropicrin. Masha's father has now left to fight at the front as does Maxim, whose father refused to get him the discharge.

In May, Katya and Masha attend a rally for the Women's Battalion of Death at the Mariinsky Theatre. At first Katya refuses to go, but when a telegram from her father arrives announcing that Maxim has deserted, she relents. There is now no reason for her to remain at home, since Maxim will never return. At the women's rally, Katya is inspired by Bochkareva's rousing speech and signs up. When she tells Sergei, he is furious that she has joined, telling her that it only means more people will die. Katya is determined to remain loyal to the Tsar and save her beloved country. But as Katya first trains to become a soldier and then is sent to the front, the realities of war and life under the Tsar come to bear.

Discussion

Open Fire is a historical novel, set in 1917 Russia, that offers a portrayal of a very interesting and little known aspect of World War II, the Women's Battalion of Death. In this respect, Open Fire is similar to several other recent historical novels about Russia and the world wars. In the novels, Night Witches and Among The Red Stars, the Soviet Union's female bomber regiment infamously nicknamed "the night witches", is portrayed. In Open Fire, readers learn about the formation of an all women's battalion whose goal was to humiliate Russian men into joining the war effort. 

Maria Bochareva

The Women's Battalion was the brain child of Maria Bochareva, a peasant woman who had distinguished herself as a soldier in earlier years of the Great War. Bochareva was born in 1889 and had a difficult life prior to serving in the Great War. Her home life growing up was abusive and impoverished, and she was abused by both her first and second husband. She fled her second marriage to join the army in 1914, obtaining special permission from Tsar Nicholas Alexander. 

In 1917, Russian soldiers were deserting in large numbers due to poor morale. In a meeting with General Kerensky in May of 1917, Bochareva received permission to create a special women's unit. Her speech on May 21 resulted in two thousand women volunteering, of which only five hundred were chosen. They were rigorously trained and followed a strict code. The women carried a small capsule of  potassium cyanide to take if they were captured by German soldiers.

The Women's Battalion of Death fought valiantly but in the end they were betrayed by Russian soldiers who refused to help the battalion at the front. There was a great deal of opposition to the women soldiers. As author Amber Lough notes in her Author's Note at the back, the women's battalions were officially disbanded once the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin came to power in Russia.

Lough does a good job of capturing life during the final days of Tsar Nicholas as Russia hurtled towards revolution. The novel covers a very short period of time, from February 23 to July 31, 1917. This period was the beginning of the end of Imperial Russia. During this time, Russia was involved in World War I, having been drawn into the war after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, an ally of Russia. Russia had previously lost the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/05 and was ill-equipped and poorly trained. In addition the country was struggling with political and social unrest. Much of the population consisted of poor peasant farmers who had little representation in Russia's autocratic government. Cities were crowded and filthy. Factory strikes were common.

As World War I dragged on Russia began suffering tremendous causalities. By 1916, almost five million men had been killed, were missing, or prisoners of war. Russian soldiers lacked weapons, munitions and even proper clothing and boots. In some situations soldiers were sent into battle without weapons, told to scavenge weapons from dead soldiers. It was no surprise that morale was low and that  soldiers began to desert. It was in these circumstances that the Womens Battalion was formed.

In Open Fire, the story of Katya and the Women's Battalion touches on some of this through the experiences of the main character, Katya. Katya's father, a Colonel in the Imperial Army and their family are loyal to Tsar Nicholas II. With her mother having left the family years earlier and her father at the front fighting, Katya is determined to help with the war effort. To that end, Katya works in a munitions factory, having giving up studying chemistry at university. The work is dirty, tiring and pays poorly. A member of the upper class, Katya is working with women who are mostly peasants.

Her family's special status is first hinted at during the march when Katya thinks about how her family has "access to food stores not publicly available." Unlike other workers at the factory, Katya attends army wives' functions, such as Easter tea. She dresses up in beautiful gowns and pretends that life in Petrograd is going on as normal. Conditions in Petrograd and the civil unrest are only briefly hinted at. Readers are told, "The Tsar had put out a ration on bread, and since the city was already strained by three years of war and a bitter winter, the women were taking to the streets. I didn't blame the, given that the last loaf I'd bought had been gray, not white, and I'd had to wait in line for nearly an hour to get it." 

In contrast to Katya is her friend Sergei, also a former student and a Bolshevik, who believes revolution will bring about a "golden future" for Russia. "Once the Tsar abdicated and a socialist government took power, Russia's troubles would end. We'd all have what we needed, he said with conviction, and no one would be sponging their wealth off the backs of the poor. There would be equality and justice, for man and woman alike." But Katya believes "a revolution would be tart, biting back." 

Nevertheless, before she enlists, Katya finds herself conflicted over the war and her loyalty to the Tsar. She reluctantly agrees to supply Sergei with information about the Tsar and later on refuses to sabotage the Women's Battalion as he requests.

Katya enters the war determined to fight for Mother Russia. She wants Russia to win the war.But her war experiences, such as the death of her best friend Masha or bayoneting a man to death change Katya's perspective forever. After recovering from her wounds, Katya's view on the war, Russia and the revolution have changed. War does not solve problems. It doesn't solve the world's problems or a country like Russia's problems. She now understands why her brother Maxim deserted. "I wanted to find Maxim and tell him that I finally understood. He needed to find peace. There are worthy wars fought badly and unworthy ones fought well, and all of them are hell. They may save nations or break them, but they always take more than they give back." 

Unlike Sergei who remains a committed Bolshevik, Katya tells him, as they are setting up a chess game, that she will choose "Whichever side plays with the most honor." The novel ends with her determined to face the future with courage and hope.

The main strength of this novel is its portrayal of war. Lough, a U.S. Air Force veteran, was able to capture some of the terror and horror of World War I with her descriptive battle scenes. The novel's perspective is unique because it portrays women soldiers engaged in bloody battles at the Eastern Front. It portrays the gruesome ways soldiers die, the suffering and the debilitating effects of battle including the special risks the Women's Battalion encountered not just from enemy soldiers but their own men.

An interesting feature Lough has added into her story is a second story within a story; Katya recounts her father's telling of the legend of St. Olga of Kiev and her dealings with the Drevalians who murdered her husband, Igor. Before her conversion to Christianity, Olga is considered a true warrior queen who exacted a terrible revenge on the Drevalians for her husband's murder. As such St. Olga exemplifies the strong, dauntless Russian warrior: a fitting example for the daughter of a Russian officer and a soldier in the Women's Battalion.

Readers can learn more about the 1st Russian Women's Battalion in Lough's Author's Note at the back of the book. Maria Bochareva whose larger than life persona Lough attempted with some success to capture, is a historical figure few readers will know about. Bochareva was executed by the Red Army in 1920. She had worked to prevent the communist takeover of Russia and was seen as an "enemy of the people." Lough offers young readers Topics For Discussion section along with some recommendations to learn more about the events covered in her novel.

Maria Bochareva image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Bochkareva#/media/File:Bochkareva_Maria_LOC_ggbain_26866.jpg

Book Details:

Open Fire by Amber Lough
Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Lab        2020
255 pp.

DVD: 1917

1917 is a war movie that tells the story of two fictional soldiers and their journey to warn another British unit that it is not to launch a planned attack on German lines.

Lance Corporal Thomas Blake learns that his leave has been cancelled and that he must see General Erinmore immediately. Told to pick a buddy to come with him, Blake choses Lance Corporal William Schofield. They meet with General Erinmore who asks Blake if he has a brother in the 2nd Devons.  He responds that his brother Joseph is in the 2nd Devons. On a map Erinmore shows Blake the location of the 2nd Devons and asks him how long it would take him to travel there. 

On the ground it appears the Germans have undertaken a strategic withdrawal. Colonel MacKenzie, in command of the 2nd Devons, has sent a message indicating that he is going after the retreating Germans. He believes he can break them. But Erinmore tells Blake that MacKenzie is wrong.

Aerial reconnaissance indicates that the Germans have extensive fortifications, defenses and a new type of artillery. The 2nd are to attack the German line in the morning tomorrow but they do not know about these fortifications. Erinmore can't warn the 2nd because the Germans have cut all their phone lines. Blake and Schofield are to travel to the 2nd Devons at their current position at Croisilles Wood, one mile southeast of the town of Ecoust, and deliver a message to Colonel MacKenzie to call off the attack. If they fail, they will lose two battalions, sixteen hundred men including Blake's brother Joseph Blake.

After being told to leave immediately, Blake and Schofield are given a few supplies and directions to the Yorks. They are to follow the trench west up on Sauchiehall Street, the northwest on Paradise Alley at the front. They are to continue along the front line until they find the Yorks. There they must give a note to Major Stephenson who is holding the line at the shortest span of  no-man's land. It is at this point that they will cross. When they express concern about crossing in daylight and being seen they are told not to worry as there should be no resistance. Nevertheless, as they leave, Schofield tries to convince Blake to wait until dark but he refuses, saying he must save his brother.

Blake and Schofield reach the Yorks and learn that Major Stephenson has been killed and replaced by Lieutenant Leslie. The lieutenant believes MacKenzie is crazy to believe the Germans have retreated. Despite his deep cynicism, Leslie, who tells Blake and Schofield there "is nothing like a scrap of ribbon to cheer up a widow", gives them directions on how to cross no-mans land.

The two soldiers succeed in crossing no mans land and enter an abandoned German bunker which they discover has been booby-trapped. Schofield is almost killed by rock debris when a rat trips the wire and causes an explosion. He is saved by Blake who helps lead him out of the bunker and then wash the rock dust out of his eyes. They cross the rest of no-0mans land, and pass through a deserted forest.

At an abandoned farmhouse, Blake and Schofield are almost killed when a German plane is shot out of the sky and crash lands in the ruins of the barn. The two soldiers rescue the pilot, his suit in flames, from the plane. When Schofield wants to shoot the pilot, Blake insists that they help him. While Schofield is getting water from the well, the pilot turns on Blake and fatally stabs him. Schofield promises a dying Blake that he will continue their mission and find the 2nd Devons to bring Erinmore's message and thus save his brother.

Shortly after Blake's death, Schofield is helped by a unit of British soldiers who have just crossed no-mans land near Bapaume. The commander, Captain Smith offers Schofield a ride part of the way to Ecouste. They are going up to the new line as the Newfoundlanders have requested reinforcements. Just outside of Ecouste, Schofield is once again on his own, as the troops cannot cross the downed bridge into the town.

In Ecouste, Schofield is targeted by German snipers and is eventually grazed and knocked out. When he awakens he finds the town burning. Still being chased by German soldiers, Schofield stumbles into a basement where he finds a young woman caring for a starving baby. He gives her all his food, including his canteen filled with milk.

At daylight Schofield continues on his journey but again encounters German soldiers and is pursued until he jumps into the river and is carried downstream to the Croisilles Wood. Schofield doesn't know this is where he has beached until he hears singing which leads him to the 2nd Devons. The soldiers are preparing to go into battle and Schofield now faces a race to save at least some of the soldiers from certain death.

Discussion

1917 follows the journey of two soldiers as they race against time and fend off certain death to warn a British battalion it is walking into a trap by attacking what appear to be retreating German soldiers. The mission is made even more urgent in that the soldier chosen to deliver the message has a brother in the at-risk battalion.

The film 1917 presents a somewhat false view that the British command during the Great War was deeply concerned about the loss of men. In fact, the potential loss of sixteen hundred men is almost insignificant considering that over one hundred thousand British soldiers died during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. For many military commanders, these losses were deemed necessary by those in positions of authority in France, Britain, Germany and even Russia. Soldiers spent years fighting over mere yards of land, despite command knowing that certain death awaited them every time they were ordered out of their putrid trenches.

Putting aside this fictional representation, 1917 does attempt to portray the desolation and destruction of war but the film in many ways is a very sanitized presentation of war; viewers only get a quick glimpse of bodies or part of bodies in no man's land, the fires in Ecoust are in the distance, the strangulation of a German soldier by Schofield is in shadow, soldiers fall in a clean, indifferent way in the first wave of the 2nd Devon's attack and even Blake's death is quick. Granted the film's focus is on the two soldiers and eventually just Schofield and his journey through many obstacles. This is accomplished with amazing cinematography and that is where this film's strength lies. Perhaps the most touching moment is near the film's end, when Schofield talks with Blake's brother, Lieutenant Joseph Blake, asking him if he can write to their mother. He wants her to know Tom didn't die alone. 

The casting is particularly strong, with both George Mackay as Schofield and Dean-Charles Chapman as Blake giving solid performances. There are a few big names including Colin Firth as General Erinmore and Benedict Cumberbatch as Colonel MacKenzie in cameo roles.

There have been numerous war movies of late, a theme that doesn't seem sustainable given the current depressing climate of Covid. Movie buffs will likely be looking for lighter fare in the coming months. Nevertheless, 1917 offers a suspenseful, fictional treatment of the Great War, with some beautiful cinematography and a lovely haunting melody at the end.

A Bear In War by Stephanie Innes and Harry Endrulat

A Bear In War is based on the true story of a young girl who sends her beloved teddy bear over to Belgium in the hopes it will protect her father during World War II.

In 1916, with World War I at a stalemate in Europe, ten-year-old Aileen Rogers and her new teddy bear named Teddy are traveling home in their sleigh to their farm in East Farnham, Quebec.  Teddy notices that Aileen is wearing a metal brace on her leg and limps. She reveals to Teddy that she had polio and now has to wear a brace to support her weakened leg. This means she can't run and jump like the other children. Teddy tells her that this doesn't matter to him. Aileen's younger brother Howard thinks Teddy is rather small, but her father points out that "Sometimes the smallest ones have the biggest hearts..."

There are plenty of chores to do both in the house and on the farm. Aileen and Teddy set the table and after dinner wash the dishes. Afterwards, Aileen and her mother help in the barn, feeding the horses hay and oats.  Aileen tells Teddy about the war explaining that war happens "when people from one country fight people from another country."  That night as her father reads stories about the war in the Montreal Gazette he is worried.

The morning is filled with more chores, which Aileen does with Teddy "snug in the pocket of Aileen's coat." That afternoon they return to town to attend church. In town they see recruiting posters for the war. There are few men at church as most of them are off fighting in Europe.

One night Aileen's life changes forever when her father tells her that he has enlisted to go fight in the war. Although Aileen is proud of her father, she tells Teddy that she wishes he could stay at home.Aileen's father travels to Valcartier where he trains to be a soldier. Aileen along with her mother, brother and Teddy travel to visit her father at Valcartier.

Aileen's father's letters eventually reveal that he has sailed to England on the RMS Hesperian. After time in England, her father is eventually sent to Belgium. After much consideration, Aileen decides to send her most prized possession, Teddy to her father, "...to remind him of home and to keep him safe."  Sadly, although Teddy would return home, Aileen's father did not. Teddy would see all that the war would involve and Aileen's father's heroic efforts to help the soldiers as a medic. He was recovered from a pocket in her father's uniform and sent home.

Discussion

A Bear In War is a truly a deeply moving and endearing picture book. Although the story is based on real events about a young girl losing her father in the Battle of Passchendaele in the fall of 1917, it also a story about love and sacrifice.

Aileen Rogers' Teddy

Aileen's father, Lawrence Browning Rogers served with the Fifth Canadian Mounted Rifles from 1915 to 1917. Lawrence wrote over two hundred letters to his wife, Janet May in that time. Both Aileen and her brother Howard also wrote to their father. These letters and the story of Teddy remained hidden until 2002 when Lawrence Rogers' granddaughter, Roberta Roberts Innes (Howard's daughter) discovered them in a family briefcase along with other memorabilia including Teddy. A Bear In War and a second book, Bear On The Homefront were written by Lawrence Roger's great-granddaughter, Stephanie Innes and children's author, Harry Endrulat.

The authors tell Aileen's family story from the point of view of Teddy, Aileen's new teddy bear. Teddy is kind and loyal. Aileen and Teddy's relationship is at once sweet and tender. She tells Teddy her secrets, the first being that she has had polio and has to wear a leg brace. Teddy responds, "That makes no difference to me."

Teddy immediately fits into the Rogers family, accompanying Aileen as she helps with dinner and chores on the farm.  Like Aileen, Teddy doesn't like war and he misses Daddy. Eventually after her father goes to war, Aileen and Teddy come up with the idea to send him to war as well, in the hopes that Teddy can protect her father.  Teddy and Aileen who have been a comfort to one another during this difficult time, decide to make their own sacrifice and send him overseas to France. During his time at war, Teddy tells young readers a bit about what it was like for soldiers during World War I.  "A lot of the time we sat in deep trenches. They were wet and cold -- and there were rats everywhere. But the trenches helped protect us from bullets and bombs....Sometimes we got hurt when a bomb exploded nearby. Sharp things would hit us." Sadly Aileen's father does not survive and is killed  while treating soldiers during the Battle of Passchendaele. Teddy survives the war and eventually is returned to the Rogers family. His own secret is "that I fought in the war in the pocket of a hero."

A Bear In War captures the uncertainty, fear and loss experienced by the families of soldiers during the long years of the Great War - a war that was supposed to end war but ended up being a continuous blood bath. Aileen's story is very much enhanced by Brian Deine's oil painting illustrations done in soft tones that accent the warmth of Aileen and Teddy's friendship, and how friendship can help carry us through tough times.

A Bear In War is an excellent picture book that offers children a gentle introduction what life was like during the early part of the 20th century, about how families coped during wartime and what life as a soldier was like.  Teddy is the teddy bear we all imagined having when we were children.

Teddy image: https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/objects-and-photos/art-and-culture/toys-and-models/teddy-bear/


Book Details:

A Bear In War by Stephanie Innes and Harry Endrulat
Toronto: Key Porter Books Limited      2008

The Vimy Oaks. A Journey to Peace by Linda Granfield

The Vimy Oaks: A Journey to Peace tells the remarkable story of Leslie Miller, a Canadian soldier who brought a few acorns from the oak trees at Vimy Ridge back to Canada and how one hundred years later Vimy may once again have oak trees.

When World War I began in mid-1914, Leslie Miller was teaching school in Saskatchewan. He enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and was sent over to England in 1915. Leslie who was well educated joined the army's Signal Corps. He was stationed at Shorncliffe Camp, a military base near Folkestone, England. As a member of the Signal Corps, it was Leslie's responsibility to send and receive communications between various units of the military. During his time in England, Miller trained other signallers. Eventually he sailed across the English Channel to France. During his time overseas Miller kept several diaries filled with observations about the people and the towns in France.

Miller was part of the Canadian troops who fought in the battle for Vimy Ridge in April, 1917. After the battle, while on Vimy Ridge, Leslie Miller gathered acorns from the destroyed oak trees and mailed them home to his family in Canada. Miller didn't return home until early 1919. Eventually he returned to the Miller farm and the acorns from Vimy Ridge grew into oak trees. Miller eventually married and he and his wife, Mary Isabel "Essie" Fraser called their farm Vimy Oaks.

As the years passed by, many new Canadians helped the Millers on their farm. One such person was Monty McDonald who helped harvest the produce, remove brush and helped with the apple harvest. Leslie and Essie eventually sold their farm and after their deaths and the Miller  farm was purchased by a church. The Vimy Oaks however, remained.  The grew tall and very large.

When Monty McDonald traveled to Europe and visited the Vimy Memorial in France, he noted that there were no oak trees. Vimy Ridge had large stands of oak trees prior to World War I but the battles had destroyed the forests and scarred the earth around the ridge. McDonald wondered if it would be possible to reforest Vimy Ridge with the oak trees descended from the Vimy Oaks on the Miller farm in Canada. They would serve as a living memorial to those who died there. The second half of Granfield's picture book explains how McDonald's idea was to become a reality.

Discussion

Linda Granfield has crafted an engaging non-fiction book that informs young readers about a little known piece of Canadian history. This year we remember the Battle of Vimy Ridge which began 100 years ago on April 9, 1917 and continued until the final hill was taken on April 12th. The Battle of Vimy Ridge was of supreme importance to Canada because it was the first time four Canadian divisions, fighting together as a unit, accomplished what no other military force was able to, and that was capture the ridge held by German soldiers. It was a carefully planned attack but it came at an enormous price - the deaths of thousands of Canadians with many more thousands wounded. Whether it is myth or not, Canadians have claimed that this battle signified the beginning of Canada as a nation in its own right.

Lieutenant Leslie Miller

Granfield tells only the basics of the Vimy Ridge story. Instead her focus is on how one Canadian soldier's decision to save a few acorns from Vimy, grew into a remarkable legacy. The story of Leslie Miller, a member of the Signal Corps, is illustrated by the muted oil paintings of illustrator Brian Deines. The story is further enhanced by many interesting photographs of the Vimy Memorial, Canadian troops, the trenches of Vimy,  Leslie and Essie later in life, and so forth. The second part of the story focuses on the efforts of Monty McDonald to see the Vimy Oaks from the Miller farm return in some form to France.

McDonald's original plan called for acorns to be gathered from the Vimy Oaks on the old Miller woodlot (all that remains of Leslie and Essie's farm today). However, when McDonald went to collect acorns two years ago, the trees produced only a handful of acorns. Not enough to start a crop of seedlings. He devised a second plan which involved having arborists scale the trees and take cuttings of the most recent growth from the top and graft them onto other trees to grow. Over one thousand trees were waiting in a nursery in West Flamborough to be planted at the Vimy memorial in France. However the French had to refuse the trees because they were concerned about the introduction of a new pathogen that could harm the native trees in France. Instead, these Canadian saplings will be planted a World War I memorials across the country. This past year the Vimy Oaks in the Miller woodlot produced thousands of acorns which McDonald collected. Two hundred acorns were sent to a nursery in Paris where they have be nurtured. While they will not be ready for planting on the centenary, they will be ready for the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I next year.

Painting by  Australian Captain William Longstaff showing the dead marching up Vimy Ridge.

The Vimy oaks, when repatriated to Vimy Ridge, will help us to remember the sacrifice of so many young Canadians. In 1916, Leslie Miller wrote in his diary, "I am writing seated at the foot of a large oak..." One hundred years on, may people sit beneath the oak trees, not to write war diaries but to write and read in peace.

The Vimy Foundation's Vimy Oaks webpage (https://vimyfoundation.ca/projects/vimy-centennial-park) has a brief write-up.

Macleans Magazine (https://macleans.ca/news/world/a-century-later-remembering-the-hard-win-at-vimy-ridge/) explores why Vimy Ridge became so important to Canada.

Image credits: 

Vimy Ridge: https://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/objects-and-photos/art-and-culture/official-art/vimy-ridge/

Leslie Miller: https://vimyoakslegacy.ca/en/lt-leslie-miller/

Book Details:

The Vimy Oaks: A Journey to Peace by Linda Granfield
North Winds Press       2017
33 pp.

Crossing Stones by Helen Frost

Set during the First World War, Crossing Stones is the story of two families who live across from one another on Crabapple Creek. Frost has structured her novel in a unique way, with four separate narrators who tell their stories in free verse.

The Jorgensen family including Muriel and her younger siblings, sixteen year old Ollie and seven year old Grace, live across Crabapple Creek from the Norman family which includes Emma and Frank and their parents.

The novel opens in April, 1917 with Muriel questioning her teacher, Mr. Sanders, during class as to why all the "real life" secretaries are women but in school they only learn about men secretaries. Muriel is angry to learn from President Woodrow Wilson, that the United States will send men to fight in the war. Ollie is still to young to enlist, but Frank has been in basic training in Kansas for the past six months. The President Wilson tells the nation he will need an army of five hundred thousand men.

Mr. Sanders talks to Muriel's parents telling them she has no "moral compass" when she questions America's involvement in the war. While Muriel's mother is ashamed, her father defends her freedom to express her opinions. Mr. Sanders tells them that if she continues to question the decision the president has made, other students "may wonder if their classmates are risking their lives for nothing." Papa tells Muriel that she must be careful in the future about people like Mr. Sanders who believe others have no right to different opinions.

Ollie wants to go to fight but he's too young yet. Instead he helps Emma's family while Frank is away by mending fences. Ollie figures by helping out he will build up his muscles so he can look older and enlist illegally. He tells Grace he will make her a playhouse out of the scrap wood.

In the poem, Socks, Muriel talks about the expectations of their families. Emma Norman is her best friend and Frank and Ollie are like brothers, but with Frank coming home on leave next week before he ships out, their mothers seem to have the expectation that Muriel will become the next Mrs. Norman. Muriel likes Frank as a friend but she knows she cannot marry him.

Frank arrives home for ten days of leave after which he will be shipped overseas. Both families have a huge dinner at the Normans home to celebrate his homecoming. During his leave, Muriel graduates from high school. Despite being smarter than all the boys, Muriel is not chosen as valedictorian because she received a "D" in comportment, likely the result of her questioning Mr. Sanders view on the war.. Instead, Arthur Anderson is valedictorian and Muriel feels his speech makes no sense.

                                 "Why is everyone just doing what they're told?
                         The presidents of all the countries should
                 meet somewhere and fight this war themselves
        if they think it's worth fighting.
What are they sacrificing? Have they asked the mothers
        who gave the best years of their lives to raise
                 these boys the presidents are sending into battle?
                            No! Women don't even get to vote -- it isn't fair!

Frank thinks Muriel sounds like the suffragettes. Muriel enjoys her graduation dancing with all the boys but Arthur. On the way home, Frank mentions about all the local boys who are enlisting and then suddenly asks Muriel for a kiss. Frank wants to have a girl back home to write to when he is in France, "someone to keep fighting for". Muriel refuses because she doesn't want to just be "someone" whom Frank hurriedly chooses before going off to war. Refusing Frank a kiss results in an argument with Emma who feels this might have been good for Frank while he's at war.

With Frank and many of the other men gone to war, women begin filling in for the men. Muriel's Mama decides to go work for a shop manager as a bookkeeper "for the duration" and the housework falls to Muriel. When Muriel's mother tells her how important mothers are because they raise their children to be honest, Muriel questions the wisdom of this when these children are then sent off to fight wars.

Shortly after Frank is sent overseas, Ollie slips away, taking the train to the city to secretly enlist. Muriel and her family find out when the mailman brings a letter later that day from Ollie explaining what he's done. Muriel's Papa wants to go retrieve Ollie, but Mr. Norman persuades him that doing so might land Ollie in jail.

Meanwhile in July 1917, Papa tells Muriel that the government has passed a law, the Espionage Act,  punishing people who speak out against the war. Papa warns Muriel to be careful and he worries about his sister, Muriel's Aunt Vera, who is involved with the suffragettes protesting for the right to vote for women.

Frank's letters to Emma and his parents tell of adventure. His letters to Muriel are heavily censored, leading Muriel to wonder, if the war is right, why are the soldier's letters blacked out? Ollie too is beginning to regret having signed up and wonders if Muriel was right. A letter from Aunt Vera tells about the protests by the suffragettes and that she is going to Washington to join the picket line in front of the White House. She plans to be in Washington only a week and will stop to visit Muriel.

However shortly after Muriel's father receives a letter from Vera telling them about a controversial sign the suffragettes have made equating President Wilson with the Kaiser of Germany. Vera has been arrested and is in jail. The protests in Washington with new suffragettes replacing those who are arrested mimic the war effort as new soldiers fill in for those who are killed. Frank writes to Muriel that they can't seem to stop a war that is consuming millions.

And then one Saturday afternoon, the lives of the Jorgensen and Norman families are changed forever with the news that Frank has been killed in action. While trying to comfort Emma, Muriel struggles to deal with her own grief for a man she did not want to marry but she certainly wanted to return home safe and sound. Frank's death marks the beginning of several crises that Muriel and her family must deal with leading her to make some hard but different choices about how she will live her life.

Discussion

Crossing Stones is an exquisitely crafted novel, from its expressive jacket art by Richard Tuschman to the uniquely structured poems within. Frost deals with two major historical events in her novel, the entry of the United States into the Great War and the suffragette movement to achieve the right to vote for women. These two dramas are the backdrop for the simple farm life of two families, knit together by the bonds of friendship and love. There are two prospective couples, Ella Norman and Ollie Jorgensen and Muriel Jorgensen and Ella's brother Frank. Ella and Ollie share a mutual affection for one another that eventually leads to love. However, Frank and Muriel, although good friends, do not know what they want. Frank seems to feel an attraction to Muriel but he's a cautious person by nature and without the encouraging cues from Muriel only decides to push their friendship before he leaves for France. This makes him seem a bit calculating which puts Muriel off. And Muriel doesn't like their families' expectations that she will some day marry Frank.

Frank's final letter to Muriel, which comes with his personal affects weeks after his death, reveals the deep conflict he felt over fighting and killing other men, how the truth of the war was being kept out of the newspapers and how Muriel's questions about the war lead him to doubt deeply about what was happening and to hesitate to kill. For Muriel, these revelations have a lasting effect.

"A bullet and a bandage for the wound
         it causes, all in one small envelope.
                  My questions may have caused a hesitation
                           that cost Frank his...his certainty.
                  His life? However long I live, it won't
         be long enough to silence that suggestion."


Grace's drawing is a foreshadowing of Frank's death; the picture showing the crossing stones with Emma and Ollie and "a stone with no one on it, my hand stretched out toward it, reaching out to someone who's not there."

While everyone is struggling to come to some kind of terms with Frank's death, Ollie arrives home, having lost an arm while saving a fellow soldier from being run over by a tank. Emma who is trying to cope with the loss of her brother, now has to deal with what has happened to Ollie. Despite being changed by his experiences in the war, Ollie is helped to heal by the wonderful acceptance and love of Emma.

Besides exploring the issues surrounding the First World War, Frost also includes much information about the suffragette movement in the United States during 1917. This is done through the eyes of Muriel who writes about the picketing women and their treatment by men in Washington, their arrest and the forced feeding of the suffragettes.

Another aspect especially appealing in Crossing Stones was Frost's positive portrayal of family life at the turn of the century. The Norman family suffers the loss of their only son, Frank, and in response to this tragedy, Muriel's Mama goes over to stay with Mrs. Norman. When Ollie returns home recovering from the loss of his arm, Muriel's family pulls together to help him recover, but Muriel also offers him the space on their walks to talk about the war and what he experienced. It is these talks that help Ollie to begin to heal.  When Grace becomes ill with the influenza that is sweeping through the towns, Emma carries her to the stream so Ollie can take her and Mrs. Norman brings soup for Grace.

The poetry in this book is nothing short of impressive. In her Author's Note at the back of the book Helen Frost provides her readers with some information on the form and structure of her poetry which she wanted to reflect the idea of "stepping from stone to stone across a creek". Muriel's poems look like a meandering river while Ollie and Emma's poems are representative of the stepping stones. Their poems are " 'cupped-hand sonnets,' fourteen-line poems in which the first line rhymes with the last line, the second line rhymes with the second-to-last, and so on, so that the seventh and eighth lines rhyme with each other at the poem's center." However, while the rhyming words are found at the end of the lines in Emma's poems, in Ollie's poems the rhyming words are the first in each line. Frost goes on to explain further how Ollie and Emma's poems are connected to each other.

Crossing Stones is a wonderful historical novel that conveys both the horror of World War 1 as experienced by both the men who fought and their families back home, as well as the determination and pluck the suffragettes demonstrated as they fought for the right to be politically equal to men. Creative, unique, poignant and sensitive in its treatment of these issues and of families torn apart by a senseless war and a changing social order, Crossing Stones is a true gem.

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Book Details:

Crossing Stones by Helen Frost
New York: Frances Foster Books      2009
184 pp.