Synopsis
The Divine Wind is set in Broome during the late 1930s and during the years of WW11. It is told in retrospect by Hart Penrose, the main character. He is the son of a pearl fisherman. The story revolves around his love for a Japanese girl with whom he has grown up, Mitsy Sennosuke. Mitsy is also friends with Alice, Hart’s sister. The early part of the text traces their life as children in the diverse tropical world of Broome. It is a place of excitement and interest, and yet a place where racial tensions simmer just below the surface. Aside from the many cultures which form the population of the town, the story dwells on the virulent racism of 1930s Australia towards Aborigines. It is a world for which Alice and Hart’s mother, Ida, is dramatically unsuited. Her growing dissatisfaction wounds Mike Penrose, Hart and Alice’s father, very deeply. There is nothing he can do to rescue his marriage and when word comes from England of Ida’s father dying, she immediately departs. It is clear that she will not return. The war in Europe impacts directly on the lives of the main characters when Ida is killed during an air-raid on London.
Mike Penrose grows restless during the wet season and heads out pearling too early. The subsequent storm badly injures and nearly kills Hart, but he is saved by Zeke Sennosuke, Mitsy’s father, who is lost at sea. Mitsy and her mother cope with this loss, as Mitsy nurses Hart back to health in the hospital. The war in the Pacific comes closer and closer to break the isolation of Broome. Alice joins the army as a nurse and ends up as a prisoner of war. Hart’s father attempts to protect Mitsy and her mother out of a sense of compassion and guilt and brings them to live in his house. Mitsy and Hart become lovers, however the strain of the uncertainty about Alice’s fate drives a wedge between them all. Finally Mitsy and her mother decide to move out with the help of Jamie Kilian. Hart sees his sometime friend and rival as trying to steal his girl and attacks him just as the war comes to Broome. An attack on the Dutch refugees’ seaplanes sees Hart nearly leave Jamie for dead. It is revealed to Hart that Mitsy no longer wants to stay with him. She and her mother are interned for the duration of the war, however she retains her affection for Hart and eventually writes to him. She will return to him but Hart is pessimistic about their prospects for a happy relationship.
The Divine Wind is set in Broome during the late 1930s and during the years of WW11. It is told in retrospect by Hart Penrose, the main character. He is the son of a pearl fisherman. The story revolves around his love for a Japanese girl with whom he has grown up, Mitsy Sennosuke. Mitsy is also friends with Alice, Hart’s sister. The early part of the text traces their life as children in the diverse tropical world of Broome. It is a place of excitement and interest, and yet a place where racial tensions simmer just below the surface. Aside from the many cultures which form the population of the town, the story dwells on the virulent racism of 1930s Australia towards Aborigines. It is a world for which Alice and Hart’s mother, Ida, is dramatically unsuited. Her growing dissatisfaction wounds Mike Penrose, Hart and Alice’s father, very deeply. There is nothing he can do to rescue his marriage and when word comes from England of Ida’s father dying, she immediately departs. It is clear that she will not return. The war in Europe impacts directly on the lives of the main characters when Ida is killed during an air-raid on London.
Mike Penrose grows restless during the wet season and heads out pearling too early. The subsequent storm badly injures and nearly kills Hart, but he is saved by Zeke Sennosuke, Mitsy’s father, who is lost at sea. Mitsy and her mother cope with this loss, as Mitsy nurses Hart back to health in the hospital. The war in the Pacific comes closer and closer to break the isolation of Broome. Alice joins the army as a nurse and ends up as a prisoner of war. Hart’s father attempts to protect Mitsy and her mother out of a sense of compassion and guilt and brings them to live in his house. Mitsy and Hart become lovers, however the strain of the uncertainty about Alice’s fate drives a wedge between them all. Finally Mitsy and her mother decide to move out with the help of Jamie Kilian. Hart sees his sometime friend and rival as trying to steal his girl and attacks him just as the war comes to Broome. An attack on the Dutch refugees’ seaplanes sees Hart nearly leave Jamie for dead. It is revealed to Hart that Mitsy no longer wants to stay with him. She and her mother are interned for the duration of the war, however she retains her affection for Hart and eventually writes to him. She will return to him but Hart is pessimistic about their prospects for a happy relationship.