Review: The Last Reunion

The Last Reunion by Kayte Nunn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

This is the story of a young woman called Beatrix Pelham who was brought up in India and joined the Women's Auxiliary Services (Burma), or Wasbies as they were affectionately known, dispensing teas, sandwiches, cake and a reminder of home to Allied Forces in India and Burma. Although it might sound the most English thin possible, this women were close to the fighting and were required to set up camp in the most of basic of conditions, then serve food and drink to up to 1,000 hungry soldiers, day after day after day, moving from one location to another.

Fast forward to 1999 and Olivia, a young Australian art history graduate is interning at a small art dealer in London when her boss gets a call from an elderly widow who wants to sell her husband's Japanese art collection, including a rare Foxgirl netsuke which was reported stolen in 1976. Olivia is sent to assess the collection and determine whether there is provenance for the netsuke, which could be worth tens of thousands of pounds, but falls ill on the woman's doorstep and gets snowed in for Christmas.

Told partly in 1944/5 and partly in 1999 we discover what life was like for young (Bea started in the Wasbies when she was only twenty) girls from sheltered homes who had to endure the heat and humidity of working in a jungle with only rudimentary housing and equipment. How she came to possess the netsuke, how it was lost and how she reclaimed it.

I really enjoyed reading this book, especially because I hadn't heard of the Wasbies before. However, it wasn't without its flaws. First, everything was quite briefly and superficially described, almost like a diary entry, I didn't really get a feel of what it really felt like to open so many cans of tinned meat in a single day that you got blisters or how long they must have spent making sandwiches every day, it was all just touched on briefly. Secondly, it was all a bit predictable, sanitised and happy ever after. So, a good read but not a great one.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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