Review: The Widow and Her Hero
Longlist Selected Novel for the 2008 Miles Franklin Literary Award
Book review of a novel examining the life of an Australian war hero and his widow by well-known Australian author Thomas Keneally.
The Widow and her Hero (Random House, 2007) is another wonderful work of Australia fiction from consummate storyteller, Thomas Keneally.
The Widow and her Hero Overview
The first half of the novel is primarily set during the final years of World War II. As a young woman, Grace meets and marries an attractive and personable young Australian officer, Captain Leo Waterhouse. Their plans for a happy future together are put on hold when Leo’s military responsibilities call him away to war then destroyed as he is captured and killed.
Grace begins her marriage as a naive, optimistic country girl, caught up in the social behaviours and expectations of the time. Gradually her simple outlook becomes more complex and introspective. Despite the predominance of the military campaigns and strategy discussions, the novel is really an examination of the difficulties endured by the wives of the military heroes of the time and the personal cost of loving a hero.
Grace seeks to come to terms with the emptiness, anger and heartache she feels at finding herself a widow. She succeeds for a time, but new revelations about the circumstances of Leo’s capture and execution lead her to continually revisit her grief. Through Leo and Grace, Keneally offers insight into the complex and contradictory nature of heroism and valour.
Themes and Preoccupations
Through Grace’s eyes, the reader is led to consider the motivation and impact of the life of a hero. Grace observes that for the men, their need to choose the heroic path would always prevail over the mundane trials and practicalities of their situation or their everyday life.
Leo and his fellow operatives are seen as men serving a higher cause that allows them no opportunity for self-doubt. While this shows them to be focused on their cause, the novel also reveals the flip-side of this total absorption. The men disregard irrelevant and distracting details, however their wives must reconcile themselves to becoming, at times, one of those distracting details. The role of the wife of a hero is not portrayed as one of reflected glory, but rather a self-sacrificing role as significant and demanding as that of the hero themselves.
The Widow and her Hero also examines the consequences of conflicting loyalties. The contrast between the military hierarchy and battlefront soldiers and the conflicting agendas of the Australian, American and English commanders is highlighted, as is the terrible cost of war where the worth of an individual is always less than the value of the military objective.
Australian Wartime Fiction
It is easy for the reader to establish an affectionate connection with Grace and Leo. Grace is calm, practical and objective in her observations of the past, even as she experiences grief, frustration and anger so strongly. For the hero, heroism is its own reward, but for the wives left behind, the reward seems bought at too high a price and the impact of their loss is ongoing and profound.
Written in the approachable narrative style for which Keneally is well known, The Widow and her Hero is more than a simple war story. There is a significant amount of detail offered for the military activities, which may lessen the enjoyment of the novel for those not interested in such topics.
The Author
Thomas Keneally is the author of more than 25 works of fiction, including The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (Penguin, 1972) and the Booker Prize winning novel Schindler’s Ark, later made into the Academy Award winning movie Schindler’s List. He has published nine non-fiction works and two books for children.
The Widow and her Hero has been longlisted for the 2008 Miles Franklin Literary Award. Keneally has won the prestigious Australian literary award on two previous occasions, for his novels Bring Larks and Heroes (Cassell Australia, 1967) and Three Cheers for the Paraclete (Angus & Robertson, 1968)
