Aftermath by Jackie Davis

In Aftermath, author Jackie Davis has crafted a story that draws the reader into the ordinary lives of an everyday family during an extraordinary time in New Zealand history.

Ivy Chapman and her sister Katherine have both been waiting for their husbands to return from serving in the Great War. With news that they not only survived, but are on ships heading for New Zealand, the countdown is on until they arrive home. As much as Ivy is excited to have her husband home, she wonders what life will be like. Will either of them be what the other remembers? She has a job now, managing the Auckland public library and wonders if Samuel will mind her going out to work. While Katherine has been kept busy raising her daughter, she has succumbed to temptation outside her marriage to George.

As the Halifax and the Niagara sail closer to their destination, passengers and crew start to fall ill as a sickness sweeps through both ships. Samuel wonders if he will even make it home alive to his darling Ivy. When his ship docks, Ivy quickly discovers her beloved husband is not the same man who left for the war, and she doubts if their lives together will ever return to the way they were before he left.

As Samuel struggles with shell shock, the Spanish flu spreads at a vicious rate through Auckland. As one obstacle is overcome, it seems another is thrown in their path. However, for Katherine, she has more than a sickness to worry about, and the return of her husband, George, has made her situation unbearable. How could Ivy ever be prepared for what was about to happen?

Davis is a seasoned New Zealand author, and in Aftermath, she portrays ordinary people thrown into extraordinary circumstances to see how they would respond to the situations created by World War One and its aftermath. She has crafted an incredibly immersive story that makes the reader feel as if they are part of those historical events.

Reviewer: Carole Brungar

Bateman Books