Cassie McCullagh

And we actually see the moment where she sees her husband for the first time with his dreadful injuries.

Now, back at home, he's introduced to this thing he quickly calls the contraption, which allows him to move around.

But also, in those very early pages, by I think page 12 or something, we find out that Bridget and Adam's marriage was effectively over before the story begins.

She'd hooked up with a guy called Ryan.

There'd been a few emails back and forth from Adam's posting in Iraq.

But here she is in this situation.

Yeah, he discovers that there's been something implanted in his head during all these operations he's had before he makes it home.

Yeah, and there's this kind of gung-ho, isn't this great attitude towards this exoskeleton which is going to kind of make his life fine and it's all going to be okay and he's this war hero and, yeah, no worries, mate.

That's Rodney Hall speaking about his book, A Stolen Season.

It was interesting.

I think right now is a great time to be reading this book in the lead up to Anzac Day.

It made me think about the contemporary situation in this country and those who haven't come home from those particular conflicts in the last decade and also those suffering with the injuries, both visible and invisible.

I can see why he's decided to pursue this line of thinking.

Did you like the character of Bridget, Kate?

and is kind of ruining the fact that she didn't go ahead with leaving before he even was injured.

Why didn't she get the divorce sorted out, you know?

But here she is.

And so there's this real anxiety of someone who wants to be somewhere else.

But somehow that's not what happens.

There's something quite perplexing about the structure of this novel, Kate.