For the past two weeks, several students have been preparing for the Literature quiz by reading a few books each and memorising crucial information about the stories. One of those particular books is called The Telegram, written by Phillippa Werry and published in 2019 by Piri Press.
Revolving around the leading heroine, Beatrice Thomas at the young age of 14, the story takes place during WWII and focuses on the lifestyle of the not so wealthy families and how they manage the stress of awaiting the arrival of loved ones returning from the front lines or a letter addressing fatal injuries or death from said relatives. The story strongly addresses issues around sexism in workplaces and the stress of the women, children and other people left behind, as they work in place of connections that have left for war and continue their everyday life.
The story begins introducing Beatty (Beatrice) and her family which includes her younger sister, Tilly, her mother and herself. Their daily lifestyle is very consistent and practically repetitive. While sending, receiving and awaiting letters from close friends out on the front lines, Beatty continues to do her normal house work and go through proper education, at least until the mothers financial difficulties grew to the point where Beatty would have to drop out of school and find a job that accepted girls of her age group.
Beatty’s early days in the telegram business consisted of an excessive amount of information, training and teasing from some of the older boys. She undertook many jobs throughout her time in the job, sometimes she would be the deliverer of good news, but more often as the war progressed, the courier of melancholy. Despite having to bike for miles and miles each day, Beatty only had one major problem with the job she had signed up for: delivering the news about the loss of a loved one to people and how to help them manage their grief. The feeling of nausea and stress of handing over such depressing news and how it’s not typically a job for young girls such as herself, is constantly being mentions and blatantly spelled out.
Another important aspect of the story is how character driven it is. With each of the characters having been impacted by their own unique burdens, have their own flaws, and have different views and ways to handle situations, the author has created a realistic approach to them. One example would be Daniel, a young boy slightly older than Beatty, who had returned from the front lines having achieved hardly anything, apart from offering his dismembered leg. From the minute of his arrival, his bitter attitude and lack of empathy had caused his life to fall into anguish and melancholy for not only himself but also his family and the people that used to be close to him. Later in the story however, his gradual development and change in perspective had proven beneficial.
Overall it was a very well written book and a good read.
