The Daughters of Mars: A Novel

Gives good insight into WW1 conditions, particularly from a nursing perspective.
Characters grow on the reader, as the story unfolds.
Locations are well described, as the differences are revealed from places of origin of the nurses to the scenes of treatment of the wounded.
The personal encounters bring a compelling human story to life as we read that emotions are the same then as those experienced 100 years later.

Most amazing writing. Amazing descriptions of World War 1 Australian nurses who worked the hospital ships in the Dardanelles and treated the troops from the idiocy of Gallipoli, later treated troops from the trenches in France. Lest we forget how idiotic wars are.

Descriptive writing captures a period and a place with which most of us are unfamiliar. Although I didn't like the treatment of the ending, that's the only part of this long journey through WWI with two Australian nurses and their companions with which I took objection. Well worth a serious read.

This book is a very exciting and moving story about two sisters and others caught up in the awful slaughter that was WWI The events are exciting in their own right, but the authors makes the reader really concerned about these people and helps us to understand the futility and insanity of war in the first place.

This is an excellent book. A story well and unusually told. The narration was a little strange for the first few pages but the lack of conventional quotation marks was hardly noticed as the writing style is so fine. The standard answers in the 'tick a box' choices here do not do justice to the quality of the work.

The Daughters of Mars is a gripping account of WWI told through the eyes of two Australian sisters serving as nurses on the frontlines Keneally's vivid descriptions of historic events ,complex characters and challenging relationships make this an excellent novel for book group discussions!

I read excellent reviews of the book, I love learning about periods of history and the changing roles of women so perhaps my expectations were too high.

Certain passages were excellent, but overall the story dragged. I could not invest in any of the characters.

The ending was a disaster! Pick a four page ending to this book!

Lyrical and descriptive writing about the lives of nurses during WWI as seen primarily through the experiences of two sisters from Australia. Makes Maisie Dobbs novels seem capricious and light-hearted but this book is not maudlin. Captivating!

Beautifully crafted characters stay with you long after you close the book. The suffering experienced in the war touches you as a reader but is not thrown at you. A lovely read and it has sparked in me an interest in the people of the WWI era.

This thoughtful book about Australian nurses serving in World War I was a joy to read. I may be biased because I am myself a nurse, but I loved getting to know the Durance sisters and felt like I was on the journey through the medical tents right beside them. Highly recommend.

Fantastic read - beautifully crafted - a master of his craft and a joy to the reader. Historical information inserted with painstaking research and a superb level of commitment. Thanks for this wonderful piece of writing.

ExcellentHistory-WW1Novel- family Saga. Starkly bring home to the reader "the war to end all wars."

It should have!! Why it didn't is beyond me. Told from an unusual perspective - that of two sisters who are members of The Australian Nursing Corps.

This book highlights the role of the nurse during World War 1. As an RN I found this historical novel especially interesting. I was able to appreciate the extremely difficult working conditions the nurses had to work under and the progress that has been made in the nursing and medical professions.

A really good read, I would highly recommend it, particularly to anyone interested in WWI or nursing. Amazing! So sad and such a waste of young lives - the war to end all wars!? When will we learn? Cleverly woven story around historical facts - couldn't work out if it was fact or fiction.

This wonderful book is full of courage, humour and pathos. The sad history of WW1 is woven through the lives of two great nurses, who are sisters, and join Australias' forces to care for the wounded, firstly in the Mediterranean and then the Western Front.

This wonderful book is full of courage, humour and pathos. The sad history of WW1 is woven through the lives of two great nurses, who are sisters, and join Australias' forces to care for the wounded, firstly in the Mediterranean and then the Western Front.

A very convincing story of growing human relationships - mainly between young people in the context of mutual professional respect for one another, but in the horrific circumstances of the battles of the 1st World War, initially in Turkey and later in France. This must be a Booker candidate.

This is an outstanding read relating the stories of two sisters who nurse during the first world war. The story could have been any war as the experiences are universal. This is not a book about war. It is a book about people whose lives are altered by their involvement in world shuttering events. I learned a lot by reading this and Tom Kenealy did not disappoint .