Becoming Mrs Mulberry by Jackie French

French’s latest historical novel is set in the period after World War I, when soldiers returned to their home country suffering horrific injuries, missing parts of their faces and bodies. Douglas Mulberry is a hapless shell-shocked officer, recovering from trauma. Agnes agrees to become his wife in an arrangement to save him from the insane asylum, at the behest of his sister and her close friend, Puddin. As Mrs Mulberry, she welcomes other luckless soldiers to work on the Mulberry estate, and then, one day after a confrontation at a circus, she also rescues a young girl, a ‘cretin’ exhibited as the Dingo Girl, sub-human, treated like an animal.

Central to the novel is the mystery of the Dingo Girl, a child supposedly raised by animals, and cruelly abused by humans. French taps into a long history of purported cases of wild children raised by animals (Savage girls and wild boys by Michael Newton 2002; Wild boy by Jill Dawson, 2003). Added to this is the particular Australian phobia about lost or stolen children, most recently revisited in Dinuka McKenzie’s 2023 novel Taken. This adds an intriguing element of mystery, adding another layer of interest: is it possible that a child could be taken into care by dingoes? Would a dingo come to the rescue of a threatened child? I was fascinated by French’s account of ‘dingo uncles’ in her ‘Author’s Notes’ at the end.

The investigator of these mysteries is Agnes, a feisty heroine, like the women of the time who dared to insist on their rights to education and employment, women who fought to complete medical degrees and become doctors. Agnes postpones her studies to care for her charges, firstly her damaged husband, and then the impaired child. It begins as an arrangement that she sees as temporary, but growing affection and a burgeoning romance threaten to derail her plans.

This is a well-researched work of historical fiction, based on ‘actual people, historical events and attitudes that are often not widely known’ as French asserts in her ‘Author’s Notes’. She says, ‘Sometimes fiction is a gentler way of presenting that harder times of history, as well as celebrating the good’. French has definitely succeeded with this novel. It is a great read, and will keep readers captivated until the last page. Readers who enjoyed this book, might like to look up Jackie French’s Miss Lily series set in a similar time period. And if you haven’t read Jackie French before, Becoming Mrs Mulberry is definitely the one to pick up!

Themes: Wild child, Dingoes, WWI, War injuries, Child abuse, Disabilities, Mental asylums, Women's rights.

Helen Eddy