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Under Southern Skies

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 27 ratings · 6 reviews

Cate Perry's future couldn't look brighter. She's learning about life on the land, and has just completed her first solo flight over the vast Northern Territory cattle station she calls home. And she's falling in love – with handsome, gentle Alf. Then a tragic freak accident changes Cate's life forever.

Grief and shame drive her to Tamworth, where she meets the talented Nat...more

Paperback, 339 pages

Published February 22nd 2012 by Penguin Australia

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Apr 10, 2012 Mandee rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: aussie, aussieya2012, aww2012, for-review, penguin, ya-lit, contemporary-fiction, feb2012release, i-have-a-copy, realistic-fiction, review-on-the-blog, new-adult, dramarama, eye-roller

Under Southern Skies is set in the Northern Territory, Tamworth and later on, in Queensland. The story begins the day before Cate Perry's eighteenth birthday. She made a bet with her childhood friend, Alf Cristelli, that she would fly solo before she turned eighteen and today she plans on winning that bet. Cate lives at Twin Falls Station in the Northern Territory with her father, Brendan and her step-mother, Tahlia. Cate's mother died when she was nine years old and Brendan remarried two years...more Under Southern Skies is set in the Northern Territory, Tamworth and later on, in Queensland. The story begins the day before Cate Perry's eighteenth birthday. She made a bet with her childhood friend, Alf Cristelli, that she would fly solo before she turned eighteen and today she plans on winning that bet. Cate lives at Twin Falls Station in the Northern Territory with her father, Brendan and her step-mother, Tahlia. Cate's mother died when she was nine years old and Brendan remarried two years later. At first Tahlia was a great addition to their family but since finding out that it's difficult for her and Brendan to conceive a child of their own, she has become moody and resentful towards Cate.

Cate wins her bet and flies solo, she's as excited as a girl can be but her happy bubble bursts when Tahlia announces that she's leaving Brendan and she goes to stay with some friends that afternoon. Cate immediately blames herself for the breakdown of her father's second marriage but she has to put this worry aside as tomorrow is not only her birthday but their annual muster and she is allowed to help out more this year. Twin Falls Station is a Brahman cattle farm and they will spend two weeks in the bush rounding up the cattle they need to sell. On the day of her first solo flight, Cate realised that she has feelings for Alf that she hadn't felt before and while on the trip, she attempts to make him jealous.

Soon a tragedy strikes at Twin Falls and Cate is forced to leave her family home. She spends some time living with the Cristelli family and then sets off for Tamworth to see if she can make it as a country singer. She gets a job working at a sheep station and has the fortune of meeting Nat and she joins his band, the Wild Knights.

Under Southern Skies isn't a book I would normally choose to read but when I was offered a copy for review I accepted because it is about a young adult and I thought it would be good to read something a bit different to what I usually read. Anne obviously loves Australia because the descriptions of the land were beautiful and the book definitely has a very Australian feel to it.

Cate was an interesting character and at times I really felt sorry for her. She suffers from anxiety and blames herself for so many things. She's susceptible to controlling and manipulative people and she's not very good at communicating her feelings. There was so much miscommunication between her and Alf and that was an issue for me because it's one thing that really annoys me in books, tv shows and movies. If Cate or Alf had spoken up about how they felt, they could have saved themselves a lot of time and heartbreak. Although in saying that, Alf wanted to let Cate go to Tamworth so she could follow her dreams and find out who she is and I respected him for putting her needs first. Cate started out very immature but by the end I think she had learnt a lot and she'd matured enough to start a more serious relationship and be secure in who she is.

My biggest issue with Cate was when she was working at the sheep station, she compares the sheep to her beloved Brahman cattle and considers them to be stupid and she doesn't mind working with them because there's less heartbreak involved when they're sent off to be slaughtered. I really don't understand how you can raise animals, in Cate's case cattle, say that you love them then send them off to be killed, but I'm sure most readers won't have the same issue with this that I did.

Rural fiction has always been available in Australia but it seems to be gaining popularity if the amount of new releases is any indication. I think a lot of readers would enjoy Under Southern Skies, a book about a young girl, set in the outback of Australia.(less)

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Apr 10, 2012 Bree T rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, australian, aww2012, chick-lit, romance, rural-lit, women-s-fiction

Cate Perry is one day off turning 18 – not much time left if she wants to win the bet that she’ll make her first solo flight before her birthday. She grew up on a cattle property in the Northern Territory named Twin Falls. She has so much to look forward to besides piloting solo – she’s a daughter of the land and loves the family property and working around it dearly. Plus there’s Alf (short for Alfredo) a family friend whom she has grown up with. Alf was like a brother to her in childhood but n...more Cate Perry is one day off turning 18 – not much time left if she wants to win the bet that she’ll make her first solo flight before her birthday. She grew up on a cattle property in the Northern Territory named Twin Falls. She has so much to look forward to besides piloting solo – she’s a daughter of the land and loves the family property and working around it dearly. Plus there’s Alf (short for Alfredo) a family friend whom she has grown up with. Alf was like a brother to her in childhood but now she’s feeling some distinctly unbrotherly-like feelings towards him. She makes her first solo flight with ease and is excited about the potential in that, such as perhaps learning to muster properly from the air one day. On a property such as that, the skill would be more than handy. Planes are almost a necessity in the Northern Territory, given it is usually the best way to visit neighbouring properties and can make a heavy workload easier.

Then a tragedy strikes, shattering Cate’s world and turning it utterly upside down. Driven out of her home, the only place that she has ever really known and a property that meant the world to her, devastated by the loss of two of the most important things in her life, she retreats to a family friend’s place to ponder her future. Her beautiful singing voice takes her to Tamworth for a look at the Country Music Festival, working for Alf’s aunt and uncle in their Italian restaurant. There she meets Nat, drummer in a band that just happens to have lost its singer. Cate asked if she might be able to audition and bemused, Nat gives her a go. From there Cat is catapulted into a world of singing, rehearsing and writing songs as the band picks up local gigs around the area.

To Cate’s disappointment it seems like life in the Top End is going on without her – Alf is seeing someone and his sister, her close friend, is barely around to take her calls these days. Her music keeps her plenty busy as she wins a singing competition that sees her get to record in Nashville – the world home of country music.

But you can’t keep a girl away from where she feels is home forever and as the singing starts to fall apart for Cate -due mostly to the implosion of her relationship with Nat- Cate finds herself tasked with the job of getting a farm in Queensland up to scratch for the absent owners to sell it. She stocks it with cattle, mends fences, finds a place for herself in the community and even starts singing again. And then Alf, the man she has always loved, reappears in her life.

Under Southern Skies is another Australian rural lit release that I was recently offered the chance to read and review. Our protagonist Cate is young – in fact sometimes it’s easy to forget just how young she is. She’s just 17 (well a day off 18) when the book opens, preparing to take her first solo flight over her family’s vast cattle property in the Northern Territory. That solo flight is important, as it is just the first of many solo flights that Cate will have to take as she goes on her journey to find her place in the world after tragedy strikes.

Cate is a happy go-lucky sort of girl, passionate about the land and her family farm. She works hard on it doing all sorts of jobs and you can tell that she looks forward to taking it over one day, making the property hers and carrying on her family legacy. She’s also a people pleaser, often sacrificing something she wants to do (or trying to) in order to make others happy, particularly her stepmother very early on in the book and then later, her bandmate-turned-boyfriend Nat. When her family farm can no longer be her home, she could’ve stayed in the Top End, with Alf’s family or possibly have gotten a job on a nearby property. But she chooses to go interstate, to country New South Wales and make a life for herself in Tamworth. She’s always loved to sing and if she can’t work on her family farm, then maybe she can make a go of it as a singer.

Luck falls in her lap when she meets Nat and his band, who are currently down a singer. Success finds them steadily after Cate joins and soon she is putting all her energies into music. It was hard not to like Cate, she had suffered a lot in her young life but she managed to retain a very happy personality and an attitude to looking on the bright side. A lot of people would’ve been very bitter about being forced to leave the only home they had ever known but although Cate was devastated, she wasted no time hating. And it was the same when her singing career stalled and she found herself back working the land. She didn’t lament the loss of her fame, or popularity. She found something that she wanted to do, that she could do, and went to do it and once again, made herself happy.

There’s a lot going on in this book – plenty of action at every turn and it can leave you feeling at little dizzy at times, especially when the book jumps forward in time. Cate has a whirlwind life, from the Northern Territory to Tamworth to Nashville, back to Tamworth and then up into Queensland. But it’s a very warm and inviting sort of book with lots of enjoyable characters, such as Alf and his boisterous and generous Italian family and the vet and his daughter that Cate meets when she arrives at the Queensland property.

Overall I enjoyed Under Southern Skies although for me personally it could’ve benefited from a little less action and a bit more character depth and development. But it’s a fun read.(less)

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Mar 01, 2012 Lauren Murphy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: aww2012, aussie-author, rural-lit, romance

3.5 stars

Passionate about flying, on Cate Perry’s 18th birthday she is ecstatic about her first chance to fly solo. Her dad, a widower who remarried five years prior, is very encouraging of Cate’s dreams as is her childhood best friend, Alf Crestelli who lives nearby. Cate’s step-mother puts a downer on Cate’s exciting feat and blames her for all her problems and winds up leaving her husband and Cate unexpectedly. Cate blames herself and when tragedy strikes less than a year later, Cate is left...more 3.5 stars

Passionate about flying, on Cate Perry’s 18th birthday she is ecstatic about her first chance to fly solo. Her dad, a widower who remarried five years prior, is very encouraging of Cate’s dreams as is her childhood best friend, Alf Crestelli who lives nearby. Cate’s step-mother puts a downer on Cate’s exciting feat and blames her for all her problems and winds up leaving her husband and Cate unexpectedly. Cate blames herself and when tragedy strikes less than a year later, Cate is left orphaned, homeless and alone. Alf’s family welcome her in as one of their own but Cate is determined to reclaim her independence and pursue her other love, singing and playing guitar. Cate sets aside her feelings for Alf and leaves her home in Katherine to move to Tamworth and find out what the Tamworth music festival is all about. Her confidence soars when she is offered a lead singer role in a local band and they are very successful with the help of her talented voice.

Under Southern Skies is a coming of age novel about a young, country girl who is trying to find her place in the world. Cate is a likeable character, albeit frustrating at times with her naivety and lack of confidence. It was very difficult to see the distance between Cate and Alf growing, despite their love for each other. The story extends across several years as Cate experiments with her music, her voice, love life and finally re-connects with her love of the land and country lifestyle. We also see snippets of what is going on in Alf’s life which Cate seems to misinterpret. It’s a classic case of … if they only talked to each other (!) they could have sorted things out much earlier… but it was well worth the wait.

At first I felt the story was a little choppy, with dialogue and various things in the plot happening quite quickly, but I soon got used to the flow and quite enjoyed this story. Most rural lit I have read usually has an older protagonist, but it was interesting to see young Cate’s confidence grow, find stability and trust herself.

The author has quite a few novels that have previously been released and I think I will seek out some of these titles to read. Under Southern Skies is an easy, enjoyable read about a teenage girl pursuing her dreams in the country.
(less)

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Oct 06, 2012 Julie rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have read alot of rural romance fiction books, and I think the more I read of them, the more critical I become. The storyline itself is ok, but I found most of it a bit too predictable, and I didn't feel as though I bonded closely with many of the characters. The way their thoughts and feelings were described didnt scratch much beyond the surface, which made this book not much of a page turner for me. I was expecting a little more.

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Apr 30, 2012 Bettina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Why have I never heard of this author before? I loved this book from front to finish, and cried and laughed with Cate the whole way through. It reminded me a little of 'The Bark Cutters', another fabulous book. Can't wait to read more books by this author. One of the best books I've read this year so far.

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Aug 23, 2012 Jaye rated it 5 of 5 stars

loved this book so much that i read it twice.

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