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y separately published work icon Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms single work   novel   historical fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2016... 2016 Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'An against all odds historical love story set in WW 2 Cowra, central NSW about a Japanese prisoner of war (Hiroshi) who escapes from the POW compound and is taken in by a member of the local Aboriginal Mission (Banjo Williams). His eldest daughter Mary and Hiroshi fall for one another over the year that he is with them but her father and the Acts of Protection and Assimilation stand in the way of any future happiness...'' (Publication summary)

Notes

  • Dedication: To all those who call Cowra home.
  • Includes book club questions (263-264)
  • Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossom was chosen by the University of Canberra as Book of the Year in 2019. It was given to every student and staff member and promoted in the university book club. 

    See the press release.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • Cammeray, Cremorne - Mosman - Northbridge area, Sydney Northeastern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Simon and Schuster Australia , 2016 .
      image of person or book cover 1725738466546006056.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 264p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 1 August 2016

        Launched by Melissa Lucashenko at Avid Reader bookstore, West End, Brisbane 17 August 2016.

      ISBN: 9781925184846, 9781925184853, 9781925184860
Alternative title: 鉄条網と桜
Transliterated title: Tetsujoumou to sakura
Language: Japanese
    • Balmain, Glebe - Leichhardt - Balmain area, Sydney Inner West, Sydney, New South Wales,: Ligature , 2024 .
      image of person or book cover 1422882734489136326.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website.
      Extent: 1v.p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 1 June 2024.
      ISBN: 9781922749895

Other Formats

Works about this Work

‘That Old Man Making Fun of Me’ : Humour in the Writings of Aboriginal and Asian Relationships Xu Daozhi , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 19 no. 2 2019;

'This article explores the role of humour in three contemporary Aboriginal texts that document Aboriginal–Asian relationships. Humour in Aboriginal texts has mostly been studied with reference to the ostensible binaries between Aboriginal and European, Black and White, colonised and colonisers. Scant critical attention has been paid to the place of humour in revealing and concealing the dynamic interrelations between Aboriginal people and Asian immigrants living under a colonial regime. This article investigates humour as a textual device that transmits subversive ideas contesting stigma and stereotypes of Aboriginal and Asian peoples regarding their identities, bodies, and inter-racial intimacies. Through close readings of Alexis Wright’s novel Plains of Promise (1997), Tex and Nelly Camfoo’s autobiography Love against the Law (2000) and Anita Heiss’s historical romance Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms (2016), this article considers three specific modes of humour in Aboriginal texts: self-deprecation, puns/wit, and boasting. The article contends that these different forms of humour draw attention to a range of unsettling issues and power relations concerning oppression and resistance, stigmatisation and normalisation, institutional control and surveillance. Further in each of these texts humour works to deconstruct images of discrete and maligned racialised otherness.' (Publication abstract)

Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms by Anita Heiss Erich Mayer , 2017 single work review
— Appears in: ArtsHub , October 2017;

— Review of Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms Anita Heiss , 2016 single work novel

'This is the story of what might have happened if an escaped Japanese prisoner was sheltered by Aborigines during World War 2'

She Is Grateful Only for One Thing That War Has Achieved : It Has Brought Hiroshi to Her Caitlin Woolley , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 31 no. 1 2017; (p. 221-222)

'Mary's father, Banjo, and uncle Kevin often speak of the injustices done to the Black community by the Australian government, like being denied the right to vote or being segregated from whites in movie theaters and hospitals. Mary's family knows what that feels like, and though not every family member wants to keep Hiroshi safe, the recognition that his place in the country is not unlike their own compels them to let him stay. The novel, though a fascinating read, exhibits flaws. Because it is largely told from Mary's perspective, pages are consumed by her thoughts, dreams, fears, and worries, and the narrative drags occasionally.'  (Publication abstract)

I Pity the Poor Immigrant Melissa Lucashenko , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 17 no. 1 2017;

'Many years ago I read a now forgotten novel by a now forgotten author, which had a truly wonderful preface. It read, simply, this bloody book nearly killed me. I therefore dedicate it, dear Reader, to myself. There is a delicate irony at play, I think, in my long remembering this dedication while the book itself is erased completely from my memory. I’ll touch on the interplay of knowledge and memory in due course. What I want to start by saying, though, is that in my case, as in the case of that forgotten preface’s author, while writing can be a horrifically stressful business - and while writing this paper did indeed feel like it was going to kill me - the Author is emphatically Not Dead.' (Introduction)

Barbed Wire & Cherry Blossoms : Anita Heiss on Japanese POWs and the Aborigines Reconciliation on the Homefront Peter Pierce , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 2 September 2016; The Canberra Times , 3 September 2016; (p. 18) Brisbane Times , 2 September 2016;

— Review of Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms Anita Heiss , 2016 single work novel

'Hiroshi's fortunate fate is to find himself protected in the Aboriginal mission.'In depicting an intimate sideline to the story of the breakout of more than 1000 Japanese prisoners from their camp in Cowra on August 5, 1944, Anita Heiss' Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms explores different territory from her predecessors...'(Introduction)

A Story of Two Camps Keira Jenkins , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: Koori Mail , 10 August no. 632 2016; (p. 13)

— Review of Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms Anita Heiss , 2016 single work novel
'Author Anita Heiss explores the two 'camps' of Cowra in the 1940s - the Prisoner of War camp and Erambie Mission, just four miles away from each other - though a fictional love story in her new book Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms. ...'
Reconciliation on the Homefront Peter Pierce , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 3-4 September 2016; (p. 20) The Saturday Age , 3-4 September 2016; (p. 20)

— Review of Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms Anita Heiss , 2016 single work novel
Barbed Wire & Cherry Blossoms : Anita Heiss on Japanese POWs and the Aborigines Reconciliation on the Homefront Peter Pierce , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 2 September 2016; The Canberra Times , 3 September 2016; (p. 18) Brisbane Times , 2 September 2016;

— Review of Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms Anita Heiss , 2016 single work novel

'Hiroshi's fortunate fate is to find himself protected in the Aboriginal mission.'In depicting an intimate sideline to the story of the breakout of more than 1000 Japanese prisoners from their camp in Cowra on August 5, 1944, Anita Heiss' Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms explores different territory from her predecessors...'(Introduction)

Love in the Time of Racism : ‘Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms’ Explores the Politics of Romance Imogen Mathew , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Conversation , 7 September 2016;

— Review of Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms Anita Heiss , 2016 single work novel
'Popular media forms, from Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s poetry to the dystopian sci-fi television series Cleverman, have often been used by Aboriginal Australians to inform and entertain. The latest example of this type of political and artistic endeavour is Wiradjuri author Anita Heiss' new work Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms. ...'
Fugitive and Mission Girl Bond Amid War Louise Swinn , 2016 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24-25 September 2016; (p. 24)

— Review of Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms Anita Heiss , 2016 single work novel
I Pity the Poor Immigrant Melissa Lucashenko , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 17 no. 1 2017;

'Many years ago I read a now forgotten novel by a now forgotten author, which had a truly wonderful preface. It read, simply, this bloody book nearly killed me. I therefore dedicate it, dear Reader, to myself. There is a delicate irony at play, I think, in my long remembering this dedication while the book itself is erased completely from my memory. I’ll touch on the interplay of knowledge and memory in due course. What I want to start by saying, though, is that in my case, as in the case of that forgotten preface’s author, while writing can be a horrifically stressful business - and while writing this paper did indeed feel like it was going to kill me - the Author is emphatically Not Dead.' (Introduction)

She Is Grateful Only for One Thing That War Has Achieved : It Has Brought Hiroshi to Her Caitlin Woolley , 2017 single work essay
— Appears in: Antipodes , June vol. 31 no. 1 2017; (p. 221-222)

'Mary's father, Banjo, and uncle Kevin often speak of the injustices done to the Black community by the Australian government, like being denied the right to vote or being segregated from whites in movie theaters and hospitals. Mary's family knows what that feels like, and though not every family member wants to keep Hiroshi safe, the recognition that his place in the country is not unlike their own compels them to let him stay. The novel, though a fascinating read, exhibits flaws. Because it is largely told from Mary's perspective, pages are consumed by her thoughts, dreams, fears, and worries, and the narrative drags occasionally.'  (Publication abstract)

‘That Old Man Making Fun of Me’ : Humour in the Writings of Aboriginal and Asian Relationships Xu Daozhi , 2019 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 19 no. 2 2019;

'This article explores the role of humour in three contemporary Aboriginal texts that document Aboriginal–Asian relationships. Humour in Aboriginal texts has mostly been studied with reference to the ostensible binaries between Aboriginal and European, Black and White, colonised and colonisers. Scant critical attention has been paid to the place of humour in revealing and concealing the dynamic interrelations between Aboriginal people and Asian immigrants living under a colonial regime. This article investigates humour as a textual device that transmits subversive ideas contesting stigma and stereotypes of Aboriginal and Asian peoples regarding their identities, bodies, and inter-racial intimacies. Through close readings of Alexis Wright’s novel Plains of Promise (1997), Tex and Nelly Camfoo’s autobiography Love against the Law (2000) and Anita Heiss’s historical romance Barbed Wire and Cherry Blossoms (2016), this article considers three specific modes of humour in Aboriginal texts: self-deprecation, puns/wit, and boasting. The article contends that these different forms of humour draw attention to a range of unsettling issues and power relations concerning oppression and resistance, stigmatisation and normalisation, institutional control and surveillance. Further in each of these texts humour works to deconstruct images of discrete and maligned racialised otherness.' (Publication abstract)

Last amended 25 Sep 2024 09:17:25
Settings:
  • Cowra, Cowra area, Blayney - Cowra - Grenfell area, Central West NSW, New South Wales,
  • 1944
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