Robert Hillman’s latest novel, The Bride of Almond Tree, is a sweeping cross-continental story of love, loss, and finding something, or someone, to believe in.
World War II is over, and Hiroshima lies in a heap of poisoned rubble when young Quaker Wesley Cunningham returns home to Almond Tree in rural Victoria. He served as a stretcher-bearer in the war—he’s seen his fair share of horror. Back home, he intends to build beautiful houses and to marry, having fallen in love with his neighbour’s daughter Beth Hardy.
Beth has other plans. An ardent socialist, she is convinced the Party and Stalin’s Soviet Union hold the answers to all the world’s evils. She doesn’t believe in marriage, and in any case her devotion is to the Communist cause. Beth’s ideals will exact a ruinously high price. But Wes will not stop loving her. This is the story of their journey through the catastrophic mid-twentieth century—from summer in Almond Tree to Moscow’s bitter winter and back again—to find a way of being together.
Hillman is a bestselling Australian author, known for his memoir The Boy in the Green Suit, which won the National Biography Award, and the bestselling The Bookshop of the Brokenhearted. His latest novel, The Bride of Almond Tree, firmly establishes his place as an accomplished storyteller.
The novel is set amidst the unrecognisable post-WWII world of rural Victoria, communist Moscow, recovering London and ruined Hiroshima. This read is a fantastic piece of escapism in a time of limited travel. Hillman successfully encapsulates the aftermath of the war’s destruction, particularly the horrific impact of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
The rise and fall of Communism is also a major theme explored here. Young, vibrant Beth becomes passionately involved in the Party, and witnesses its darkest side when she is imprisoned for espionage. The perception of Communism in Australia in the 1950s is also a fascinating theme.
Hillman’s characters are endearing, warm and nuanced. They all grapple with what and whom they hold dearest, whether that be the Quaker faith and community or the Communist movement at a university in Melbourne. The narratives of Wes, Beth, and Wes’ sister Patty, who nursed the sick in Hiroshima, are beautifully interwoven and compelling. Hillman has a knack for simple yet touching prose and dialogue, making this novel one that you could easily race through on a weekend at home.
The Bride of Almond Tree is a thoroughly enjoyable read. It’s the perfect book for readers interested in 20th century history and for lovers of sweeping historical fiction with charming, passionate characters to match.
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