Maria’s War begins with our central character, Erica moving into a retirement village on the Central Coast of New South Wales.
She is a childless, never married woman who is strongly independent and, until recently, took great pleasure in her work as a high school teacher. Unfortunately, now loneliness is often a problem.
One source of repreive from the often occurring drudgery is the correspondence with her former student Margaret, who is on a journey of self discovery about her and her family. Through Margaret’s letters we learn some of her family history and of her travels in Germany.
Another companion for Erica is Maria – another resident of the retirement village – who is also lonely, although not childless. Maria has been asked to dictate the story of her escape during the war to a young man who is a friend of the family. As she relives these memories they are brought to the forefront of her mind and she begins to confide snippets of information with Erica.
Here the stories entwine as Erica discovers a common link between Maria and Margaret.
As these main plotlines are explored we also receive an insight into the challenges and changes that Erica is experiencing in moving from an independent way of life to a more structured, curtailed lifestyle.
A good read, with an interesting subject matter although it moves a little slowly in places.