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Sweet Bitter Cane: An Italian-Australian World War II Saga by [G. S. Johnston]

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G. S. Johnston

Sweet Bitter Cane: An Italian-Australian World War II Saga Kindle Edition

by G. S. Johnston (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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A B.R.A.G.Medallion Honoree

Short-listed for the Chanticleer Book Reviews’ GOETHE Book Awards for Post 1750s Historical Fiction

One woman. Two men. War. Tragedy. Love.

Twenty-year-old Amelia marries Italo, a man she’s never met. To escape an Italy reeling from the Great War, she sails to him in Far North Queensland to farm sugarcane. But before she meets her husband, she’s thrown into the path of Fergus, a man who’ll mark the rest of her life.

Faced with a lack of English and hostility from established cane growers, caught between warring unions and fascists, Amelia’s steady hand grows Italo’s business to great success, only for old grudges to break into new revenge. She is tested by forces she couldn’t foresee and must face her greatest challenge: learning to live again.

Sweeping in its outlook, Sweet Bitter Cane is a family saga but also an untold story of migrant women – intelligent, courageous and enduring women who were the backbone of the sugarcane industry and who deserve to be remembered.

Length: 449 pages	Word Wise: Enabled	Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
Page Flip: Enabled	Language: English

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Product details

ASIN : B07L8XWKDP
Publisher : MiaRebaRose Press (20 February 2019)
Language : English
File size : 657 KB
Text-to-Speech : Enabled
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Not Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 449 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 107,065 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 2,083 in Family Saga Fiction (Kindle Store)
- 2,437 in Family Saga Fiction (Books)
- 4,339 in Historical Fiction (Kindle Store)

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21 ratings

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Gabi Plumm

Sad, poignant, a terrible time but a wonderful story

Reviewed in Australia on 18 March 2019

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I loved this book. I live very close to the location that this book is set in and I know, not the people, but the environs, the hardship, the terror of cyclones, the drifting black clouds of cane fire smoke. The story of Amelia coming from Italy to be with a man she married in Italy without ever having met him, based on love letters written by someone else, was dreadfully sad but so redolent of the times. The Fascism thought to be the answer in Italy and then Germany decimate so many lives under the guise of benefiting the population.
A wonderful story, beautifully written in the language of the era.

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Elizabeth Jane Corbett

An immigrant journey with harrowing parallels to our present day

Reviewed in Australia on 27 February 2019

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Sweet Bitter Cane tells the story of young Italian girl, Amelia, who, in the aftermath of WW1, risks marrying an unknown Italian cane farmer by proxy and travelling to join him in far north Queensland. Amelia's naivety is well-depicted as is her shock on facing the challenges of her new home - her subsequent years forever impacted by the bitter mistakes she makes in those early difficult months of her marriage. The book is however more than simply a family saga. For as the Italian community faces the horror of being enemy aliens during WW2 Australia, the author draws deft parallels between the xenophobia faced by migrant communities in Australia today.

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Ann Major

Hardworking migrants

Reviewed in Australia on 15 March 2019

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According to modern usage a saga is a narrative of heroic proportions relating to persons and events of scarcely believable tenacity and endurance. No wonder the author has subtitled his work: An Italian-Australian World War II Saga. When the main protagonist, young Amelia decided to leave her home in Italy to become the wife of a ten-years older cane cutter in the Antipodes, she didn’t have any idea of what fate had in store for her. A strong-minded twenty-year old, she wanted to improve her future away from post-World War I’s impoverished Italy. Her unorthodox arrival in Brisbane sets the scene for Amelia’s impending emotional predicament.

Over the years her intelligence and hard work help Italo, her husband, to make his venture prosper while their family is growing. Meanwhile after Mussolini’s rise to power the tentacles of fascism reach as far as the North Queensland cane cutting fraternity offering them help when the unions encumber the Italian cutters’ employment. In addition, letters from home spread only positive news about Mussolini as the redeemer of the country. No wonder they flock to the new Fascist Party. Although they are naturalised, when Italy enters the war Italo and Amelia are regarded as enemy aliens and are locked up in concentration camps and prisons respectively. Despite the many hardships and heartbreaks the saga ends on an upbeat note.

I highly recommend the book as a well researched, empathetic and intelligently written work. Its publication in the Year of the Woman is particularly appropriate.

One person found this helpful

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Diane Murray

A Beautifully Written and Well Researched Novel.

Reviewed in Australia on 17 March 2019

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Amelia is a twenty-year-old Italian girl on a journey to Australia to meet the man she has married by proxy. She speaks no English and has no idea of what the farming country of far north Queensland will be like. As she meets her husband, Italo for the first time in a cane field, surrounded by other men, she is overwhelmed by all that she doesn’t know about this stranger she has married. But as her friend Clara has said when they parted at the dock, “you are strong”.
This is a striking story – skilfully told and carefully researched. I love how this author understands people and their situations and writes so provocatively from the very heart of his characters. Amelia, Italo and Fergus - the complicated triangle of their lives and complications of being an Italian during the war in Australia. Amelia is tested on every level.
I think this is G.S Johnston’s best novel yet. I had so much empathy with Amelia and her story. Sweet Bitter Cane is an outstanding read. I couldn’t put it down.

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B. Marshall

Terrific historical fiction. Recommended.

Reviewed in Australia on 5 August 2020

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Wow. Passionate, intense, gripping, emotional, and a journey I don't think I'll ever forget. This is not only an historical masterclass in how to covert a tonne of research into pure storytelling, it's a lesson to anyone who writes with a time and a place as central to their novels. Johnston brings every sense to bear on this narrative, and the internal life of Amelia - a flawed human from a place of great hardship, who jumps from frying pan of pre-WWII Italy to the fire of wartime FNQ. Gritty, real, and very worthwhile. An unexpected epilogue pulls off a wonderful 'extra' ending which I really appreciated - an additional element of humanity to what is already a very humane book. Incredible achievement. Thanks for the trip, G.S.!

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Bing

Unputdownabale

Reviewed in Australia on 12 March 2019

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Like all of GS Johnston's novels, this book held my attention from start to finish. Broadly, it's the story of Italian immigrants who built Queensland's cane industry from the early 1900s. Its focus is is a strong female lead character who captured my heart, flaws and all - from her journey to Australia as a proxy bride to her life and struggles as a wife, mother, Italian immigrant, farm manager and friend. It's also a stark reminder of Australia's racist attitudes and the history of Italian immigrants and their internment during WW2 was fascinating. Loved, loved, loved this book!

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TABHairoun

Beautiful Novel About a Not So Well Known Slice of History

Reviewed in the United States on 1 March 2019

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I think it's safe to say I'm a huge fan of G.S. Johnston. His writing is so rich he has made me cry on occasion as I've gotten completely caught up in the trials and tribulations of his characters. Sometimes I think of him as the R.R. Martin of love...he can be rather brutal when his characters fall in love. Just when you think all is well...wham! That's not a criticism...I love it!

I was not at all let down when reading Johnston's newest book, Sweet Bitter Cane. Once again he's given us incredibly complex characters. Amelia is wonderful. She's incredibly strong and confident--traits that can get you far in life, but that can also make you a jerk if you're not careful. Even the minor characters have a big role to play and they are written so well you know them intimately even though not a lot of space was given to them.

Then there is the history lesson that goes along with Johnston's books. Not that I know a whole lot about Australia and Italy, but wow! Who knew??? I would love to know what little tidbit he came across that prompted this story idea. Again, the writing puts you right there with the characters and suddenly you think you actually have been to all these places because you have a vivid image of swaying cane fields, ramshackle homes, and even the passage through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Adan. You can even smell the cane burning during harvest.

If you like character-driven stories and historically accurate historical fiction, you'll love Sweet Bitter Cane.

7 people found this helpful

Joanne Brogan

My favorite kind of story - multi generational historic fiction

Reviewed in the United States on 14 March 2019

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This wonderful book spans many decades and allows the reader to get to know Amelia. A strong, smart woman who travels from her home in Italy to join her husband in Australia. GS Johnston is a extremely talented wordsmith. His descriptions of places makes you feel like if you just close your eyes you could see the settings of this story. I could feel myself transported to Italy, aboard ship and finally to Australia at the time between both world wars and post war.
He has spent a great deal of time researching for this book. I did not know that Australia had a sugar cane business and how the cane was planted and harvested. I did not know that there was such a hatred for the Italians who came to Australia to begin farms and families. You will learn a great deal when you read this book. And I certainly recommend it to you. Get to know Amelia, Italio, Fergus and the other characters in this extremely well written tale of love, loss and acceptance.

4 people found this helpful

E. M. R. Storrs

Love, duty, patriotism and suffering in WW2 Australia

Reviewed in the United States on 6 March 2019

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This tale of an Italian woman's hopeful emigration to an exotic but rigorous life in the Australian cane fields leads to an unexpected need for survival. Meticulously researched, and with beautiful prose, Sweet Bitter Cane reveals a little known history of two countries at war while exploring the challenges of love, duty, patriotism and suffering. Highly recommended.

6 people found this helpful

kathy d.

People are people no matter what race, religion or language they speak.

Reviewed in the United States on 1 June 2019

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I just finished reading this book and loved it! I never realized that internment camps were basically anywhere in the world that supported the fascist regime of Hitler and Mussolini. It caused me to re-think the history surrounding the years of World War 1 and World War II. It is a page turner and should be required reading in junior high and high schools in all countries.

2 people found this helpful

Whidbey Granny

Great Read

Reviewed in the United States on 12 June 2019

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This book brought out the human failings that happen when fear gets involved in wartime. Power struggles, egos that override decency and good sense have happened before and no doubt will again. It also brings out the strength in people who can overcome the bad times, pick up the pieces and begin again.

One person found this helpful

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