Theresa Smith's Blog, page 25
July 4, 2023
Book Review: The Drowning Girls by Veronica Lando
Cast a stone. Aim true. Let her sink.
Nate can’t believe he’s dragged himself up to this backwater town. Port Flinders would have fallen off the map years ago, except for one thing. Tourists flock to its mangrove-lined shores for the annual Drowning Girl festival: sacrifice a girl at sea, and the fishing hauls that keep the town afloat will prosper. Or don’t and the whole town will sink.
But it’s just a legend, a gimmick. Everybody knows that.
As fireworks light up the night sky, a woman’s body is pulled from the inky waters of the gulf. Shock waves threaten to tear Port Flinders apart when she’s identified as Kelsey Webb: a local teenager thought dead for twenty-five years.
As Nate tries to find the truth about what happened to Kelsey, he uncovers a string of deadly accidents over the decades. All women. All drowned. And always during the festival.
In his search for answers, the legend of the Drowning Girl begins to take hold of Nate, weaving its way into his head and threatening to pull him under, and he begins to question which sacrifices are truly necessary.
Published by HarperCollins Publishers Australia
Released 5 July 2023
My Thoughts:2021 winner of the Banjo Prize, Veronica Lando, has returned with her second novel, The Drowning Girls. From its eerie cover onwards, readers are treated to a story that walks a fine line between creepy and strange. It’s enormously addictive, despite my initial reservations about the main character, Nate. He wasn’t particularly likeable at first, but he grew on me, especially after a certain twisty reveal within the story that I am not going to further allude to, so that you can experience the same ‘ah-ha’ moment that I did.
The Port Flinders setting within The Drowning Girls is a place I’d not want to visit. It’s creepy, with its annual Drowning Girl festival, whereby an effigy of a girl is sacrificed at sea to keep the fishing hauls going. And yet, it seems it’s not only effigies of girls drowning; the town has a history of actual women drowning down through the decades, and no one local seems to think this is sinister.
I’m not a huge reader of crime fiction, maybe one every couple of months, and when I do select one, I’m a bit fussy on what I choose and what I pass on. The cover drew me in with this one, it’s eerie, yet strangely compelling. I read this novel quite rapidly as it really draws the reader in and keeps you turning the pages with increasing urgency. The ending has shock value, I can see it dividing readers, but I thought it was terrific. Bold and unexpected.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
July 1, 2023
Book Review: The Crying Room by Gretchen Shirm
The Crying Room movingly explores family boundaries and stories, finding original ways to express the contradictory experience of belonging to a family, and being an individual at the same time.
When Bernie Rodgers and her husband move to the coastal town of Ballina, she finds that there is more than a physical distance separating her from her adult daughters. Bernie loves her daughters, but the problem she realises is with the way she loved them.
Bernie’s daughter Susie is professionally successful, but her feelings remain distant, even to herself. When she takes on the responsibility for caring for her niece, the pieces of her life finally snap into place. The inexplicable disappearance of an aeroplane though, plunges her life into mystery once again.
Morally acute and dazzlingly accomplished, this is an affecting novel about loneliness, love, family and the need to feel.
Published by Transit Lounge
Released July 2023
My Thoughts:The cover on this novel is beautiful. It’s such a simple, yet striking design, it really draws the eye. The novel within more than measures up to its beautiful cover. Although, I feel like calling this a novel is not entirely accurate; it is, but it also isn’t. Each chapter is like a short story, yet all of the stories are connected within the overall story about the Rodgers family. We dip in and out of the lives of the family members, and the chapters aren’t all in chronological order, yet they all make perfect sense and link to each other.
‘She found herself out in the old chicken coop. It was strange how it still smelled of chickens, even though they hadn’t lived there for more than a decade. Inside she saw the curved white bones of the calf Bernie had tried to save; Bernie wouldn’t let Susie’s father remove it, even after it began to rot. The shape of its skeleton reminded Susie of a whale. The bones were so white, they seemed to glow in the dark. She dug a little hole beneath them and planted the apple tree under the rib cage, leaving it to grow where the heart should have been.’
I found that passage so immensely moving and beautiful, it brought me to tears; tears that promptly returned when later in the novel, I got to this passage, in a chapter set much after the passage above:
‘As she walked towards the car, she noticed an apple tree in the yard. The tree had broken through the roof of an old chicken coop and was spilling fruit onto the ground around it. The apples on its branches were small and green, and those beneath the tree were turning brown.’
There was something so profoundly moving about this apple tree, the fruit of which features in another chapter again, that I found so beautiful. This novel is a slow build, it draws you in and before you know it, you’re addicted to reading it and can’t help this welling of emotion that sits within you as the story unfolds.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and adore the way Gretchen Shirm writes. Highly recommended for lovers of character driven literary fiction.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
June 30, 2023
The Month That Was…
Let’s begin with this, which seems a pretty accurate summation of my last month…
Life:
Our temperatures have just dropped by ten degrees within a day, which is very welcome because we get enough hot weather in Queensland – we don’t want it in winter! In honour of the occasion, dinner last night was pure cold weather comfort food: cauliflower cheese and potato soup with homemade garlic parmesan croutons. I always feel like a much more accomplished cook in the winter.
At the close of last month, you might remember that I was attending a literary event…
Here I am, at interval, being snapped by the festival social media having a chat with Amy Andrews, prolific romance writer, and also someone who only lives thirty minutes away, who I probably should have met earlier than this. The event itself was very good, both Chris Hammer and Michael Robotham giving entertaining talks. Of course, a perfect opportunity presented itself as at the conclusion of the evening when I happened to be walking out the door at the same time as Chris and Michael, who were having a chat, which I promptly managed to join. When opportunity knocks, I answer that door! They were both lovely, Michael particularly funny. I also met Mirandi Riwoe in the foyer before the event and we talked books and who was who at UQP. She’s such a lovely person and I adore her books so meeting her was a real highlight. No selfies with the authors, my stalking has boundaries.
This month has really flown by. My daughter arrived back in the country after five months in the US studying in an exchange program at San Francisco University. She was filled with lots of travel news, and it was brilliant to have her home for the last month as we only saw her briefly at Christmas before she headed off. Like all wordly twenty-one-year-olds, she has now well and truly caught the travel bug. She headed back to her homebase yesterday ahead of the next semester of university starting.
And life would not be complete without a Zeus mention…walking is exhausting but so much fun! As long as you keep it to inside 1.8kms – any further and you’ll be carrying him home.
What I’ve been watching:
This might seem like a lot of viewing for the month but three of these shows – Outlander, And Just Like That, The Great Australian Bake Off – are new seasons with episodes releasing weekly, a novelty in today’s age of bingeing an entire series whenever we want. I actually like this, as one episode of something is usually my limit in one sitting so then I can go back to reading. My spare time is at a premium and I don’t really like using it all up sitting in front of the tv.
Bad Behaviour is based on the memoir of the same name by Australian author Rebecca Starford. It’s a gripping mini-series, all the more shocking because of it being based on a memoir rather than a novel. A bit of a warning though, it could be triggering for people who have experienced bullying.
The Great British Bake Off is the very definition of perfect weeknight viewing to calm a worried/tired/overthinking mind. I’ve been indulging daily this last fortnight and it never gets old. The corny jokes, the delicious food, the Paul Hollywood handshake, Prue’s fabulous outfits with her matching glasses…
M and I have been watching the Mission Impossible movies ahead of the new one releasing in the cinemas this month. They are a re-watch for him but new to me. I’m – surprisingly! – enjoying them. We have one more to watch tonight and then we’re up to date and ready to go.
What I’ve been reading:
Eight books for the month! Don’t get too excited, two I didn’t finish, so really, six, which as we have established, is my normal amount now. Pa Salt and Owlish were the #dnf titles. In terms of Pa Salt, which is the eighth and final title in the Seven Sisters series, I think it’s just a case of me having grown out of the series. It’s been going for a long time, my reading tastes have changed over the last ten years, which is how long this series has been releasing for. Also, the author died before writing this one so the majority of it was completed by her son. I could tell, and that’s all I’m going to say about that. Owlish was strange. I thought it was going to be a political read, but it was morphing into a read about an old man with a doll fetish and I was just not feeling it. I’ve become rather ruthless now when it comes to reads that I’m not interested in. I used to persevere a lot more but I’m back to working full-time again so what time I do have for reading, I want to spend it reading something I’m enjoying.
Scrublands I read in preparation for the Chris Hammer talk. I enjoyed it and will definitely be reading more of his. This one was the only book I read this month from my own #tbr, the rest were all review books. The Things That Matter Most is not released until August. This is one to watch out for, it was excellent. A heart-breaking and accurate examination of where our current school system is failing both the students and the teachers. The Crying Room was an unexpected delight, and The Drowning Girls was an unexpectedly addictive read. I love it when you pick up a book with no expectations going in and have a satisfying experience.
This brings me to the two exceptionally brilliant reads I had this month, and the reason I suspect I am in a bit of a reading slump right now: The Wind Knows My Name and The Broken Places. Brilliant novels can ruin you for all other books for a while after, I feel. Having two in one month has made it hard for all other books to get my attention and this last week I have particularly been feeling like nothing suits my mood, nothing will measure up, and nothing will grab my attention. I’m hoping I can break this funk over the weekend.
Before I go…
My love of books and potted plants combined – we can but only dream!
Until next month, good reading!
June 25, 2023
Book Review: The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende
Vienna, 1938. Samuel Adler is five years old when his father disappears during Kristallnacht – the night their family loses everything. As her child’s safety seems ever harder to guarantee, Samuel’s mother secures a spot for him on the last Kindertransport train out of Nazi-occupied Austria to England. He boards alone, carrying nothing but a change of clothes and his violin.
Arizona, 2019. Eight decades later, Anita Diaz and her mother board another train, fleeing looming danger in El Salvador and seeking refuge in the United States. But their arrival coincides with the new family separation policy, and seven-year-old Anita finds herself alone at a camp in Nogales. She escapes her tenuous reality through her trips to Azabahar, a magical world of the imagination. Meanwhile, Selena Duran, a young social worker, enlists the help of a successful lawyer in hopes of tracking down Anita’s mother.
Intertwining past and present, The Wind Knows My Name tells the tale of these two unforgettable characters, both in search of family and home. It is both a testament to the sacrifices that parents make, and a love letter to the children who survive the most unfathomable dangers – and never stop dreaming.
Published by
Released June 2023
My Thoughts:This is a novel about refugees and the act of seeking refuge within another country, but in true Allende style, it tells this story sweeping from Vienna at the beginning of the Holocaust through to America in the Trump era, via a collection of characters who seemingly are unconnected. The point at which you begin to see their connections is where the Allende magic sets in, the way in which she can weave a story over so many decades and continents and then draw it all together with such perfection. The Wind Knows my name is very much a love story, but not of the romantic sort, of the human connection variety.
The story set in the present day is political in every way. Allende is at that point in her career where I’d say she can pretty much write whatever she likes with no fear of backlash, and she wields this literary power with precision. The story of Anita is but one example of a harsh reality for refugee children and their terrified families. America is not the only country that is guilty of separating children from their parents and detaining them indefinitely. Allende tells this aspect of the story with an honest lens that was brutally affecting.
As always, the writing is beautiful. I find Allende incomparable to any other author. I am incapable of being objective when reviewing her novels – I’ve said this, I think, in every review I’ve ever written on her work. Each new release offers a journey and I never really know where I’m going to end up, but I am always sure that I’ll be swept away and dazzled.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
June 16, 2023
Book Review: The Broken Places by Russell Franklin
An eye-opening, compassionate and moving debut novel inspired by the life of Hemingway’s favourite child, who has often been misrepresented and misunderstood.
In 1931, Gregory Hemingway’s life begins in Kansas City, Missouri. The third and favourite child of an overbearing father, Greg is a paragon: a star athlete, a crack shot, bright and handsome and built like a pocket battleship.
In 2001, Gloria Hemingway’s life ends in a Miami women’s correctional institution. Complex and contradictory, radiant and resilient, it is a life that has flourished against the odds and been lived to the full.
Inspired by true events and spanning seventy years of the last century, this is the story of a miraculous existence, told with beauty and compassion. Transporting the reader back and forth in time, from Cuba to New York and Montana to Florida, The Broken Places explores what it means to grow up in the shadow of a man famous for his masculinity, to bear the weight of expectation and a tragic family legacy, and to finally step out into the light.
Published by Hachette Australia
Released 13 June 2023
My Thoughts:‘The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.’
– Ernest Hemingway
Ahh, Ernest. What a shadow of toxic masculinity to grow up under. Prior to reading this, I didn’t know much about Hemingway’s children, my reading has been more on the man himself and his wives, so this was a refreshing take on the man, although, I’ll say from the outset, I am no fonder of him for it.
‘Was it worth it? That ten years when the critics gave a damn? The handful of real stories and the two decent novels and the little line of prizes on the mantelpiece? Was it worth destroying all the living, breathing people who loved you? I hope so, because you don’t have anything else. Nothing.
You made me think it was my fault, you shit. Just to soothe your own guilt, or just to fuck me up more than I already was. You did that to your own son. Didn’t you feel anything? Watching me fall apart?’
– extract from a letter from Gregory to his father, Ernest Hemingway, the last one he ever wrote him
This is Russell Franklin’s debut novel and what an extraordinary piece of literary brilliance it is. I can only imagine the writer he is going to evolve into. This story of Gregory Hemingway is told with such brutal honesty yet delivered with sensitivity and grace. I have rarely read such intimate thoughts of turmoil and distress within a character as what Russell gives us with Gregory and his struggles with mental illness and gender identity. It’s a magnificent work of biographical historical fiction.
‘The work didn’t even matter any more. That was the truth. It was the man that mattered, the legend, and none of them even knew him. How wonderful he had been. What a colossal pig-headed shit. The reading public knew a character that Ernest Hemingway himself had created. A character that had wormed its way into his blood and started speaking through his mouth, puffing his chest outwards for the cameras, until the real man forgot that he had ever been anything else but this story he was telling. Maybe that was the sign of a truly great writer, that they can tell a story so convincingly that even they believe it.’
I read this novel within a day, all 390 pages of it, not something I do very often, let me say. But I couldn’t put it down and fortunately, I had begun it on the morning of a public holiday. Needless to say, I recommend this one. It gets six stars out of five, I loved it that much.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
June 3, 2023
Book Review: The Secret Life of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry
1939: Fourteen-year-old Hazel and five-year-old Flora are evacuated from London to a rural village to escape the horrors of the Second World War. Living with the Aberdeen family in a charming stone cottage, Hazel distracts her young sister with a fairy tale about a magical land, a secret place they can escape to that is all their own: Whisperwood.
But the unthinkable happens when Flora vanishes near the banks of the River Thames. Shattered, Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance, carrying the guilt into adulthood.
Twenty years later, Hazel is back in London, ready to move on from her job at a cosy rare-book shop for a career at Sotheby’s. With a cherished boyfriend and an upcoming Paris getaway, Hazel’s future seems set. But her tidy life is turned upside down when she unwraps a package containing a picture book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the storybook world she created just for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years? Or is something sinister at play?
For fans of Kate Morton and Kristin Hannah, this is a captivating, poignant celebration of sisterhood and the magic of storytelling.
Released May 2023
My Thoughts:One of my favourite books ever was written by Patti Callahan Henry, Becoming Mrs Lewis, and when I saw that she had a new one on the horizon I was filled with excitement, even more so when a copy showed up on my doorstep courtesy of HarperCollins Publishers (thank you to them).
The Secret Book of Flora Lea is just divine. Exactly what I crave and love about historical fiction. It’s a novel for booklovers and story lovers as well, which never goes astray with me. It tells the story of a missing sister, a fractured history, and the way in which we can be connected to others through stories.
As an interesting story within the story, Patti tells us about Operation Pied Piper, the government initiative to keep London’s children safe during the Blitz, but which, for thousands upon thousands of families, went horribly wrong. The history buff within in me ate this aspect of the story up.
Patti writes with such beauty; she truly is gifted as a wordsmith and storyteller. If you’ve never read a novel by her before, I urge you to do so. Start with this one, her latest, and I guarantee you will feel compelled to read more by her.
A five-star read that I highly recommend.
Book Review: Scrublands by Chris Hammer
Set in a fictional Riverina town at the height of a devastating drought, Scrublands is one of the most powerful, compelling and original crime novels to be written in Australia.
Winner of the 2019 CWA Dagger New Blood Award for Best First Crime Novel.
In an isolated country town brought to its knees by endless drought, a charismatic and dedicated young priest calmly opens fire on his congregation, killing five parishioners before being shot dead himself.
A year later, troubled journalist Martin Scarsden arrives in Riversend to write a feature on the anniversary of the tragedy. But the stories he hears from the locals about the priest and incidents leading up to the shooting don’t fit with the accepted version of events his own newspaper reported in an award-winning investigation. Martin can’t ignore his doubts, nor the urgings of some locals to unearth the real reason behind the priest’s deadly rampage.
Just as Martin believes he is making headway, a shocking new development rocks the town, which becomes the biggest story in Australia. The media descends on Riversend and Martin is now the one in the spotlight. His reasons for investigating the shooting have suddenly become very personal.
Wrestling with his own demons, Martin finds himself risking everything to discover a truth that becomes darker and more complex with every twist. But there are powerful forces determined to stop him, and he has no idea how far they will go to make sure the town’s secrets stay buried.
A compulsive thriller that will haunt you long after you have turned the final page.
Released April 2019
My Thoughts:I’m late to the party with Chris Hammer, but this should come as no surprise to you if you follow my reviews as rural/outback/small town settings are not my go to and I also only read crime in moderation. More fool me in this instance as this is one cracking good read.
There is desolation in the setting, a pervading sense of hopelessness that really got under my skin. Hammer writes with such an atmospheric hand, this is a case of total immersion into not only the location, but also the psyche of the town and its inhabitants.
I really liked the main character, Martin Scarsden, particularly that he was a journalist, as opposed to a detective, a nice change within a crime novel. I liked Mandalay Blonde a lot less and have it on good authority that she features heavily in the next instalment of this series, however, I have decided not to let that deter me from reading on.
This is a big book but reads easy, and by that, I mean it’s well paced, doesn’t drag ever, and is utterly compelling with its story. I had no idea what was going on and when it all came out, I was shocked. From an author who claims he doesn’t plot, he’s done a pretty good job at creating a complex and layered crime story that simmers with dread, desperation, and conviction.
Highly recommended.
May 31, 2023
Book Review: Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police – A Cold War Escape by Stejarel Olaru
Nadia Comaneci is the Romanian child prodigy and global gymnastics star who ultimately fled her homeland and the brutal oppression of a communist regime. At the age of just 14, Nadia became the first gymnast to be awarded a perfect score of 10.0 at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games and went on to collect three gold medals in performances which influenced the sport for generations to come, cementing Nadia’s place as a sporting legend.
However, as the communist authorities in Romania sought an iron grip over its highest-profile athletes, Nadia and her trainers were subjected to surveillance from the Securitate, the Romanian secret police. Drawing on 25,000 secret police archive pages, countless secret service intelligence documents, and numerous wiretap recordings, this book tells the compelling story of Nadia’s life and career using unique insights from the communist dictatorship which monitored her.
Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police explores Nadia’s complex and combustible relationship with her sometimes abusive coaches, Béla and Marta Károlyi, figures who would later become embroiled in the USA Gymnastics scandal. The book addresses Nadia’s mental struggles and 1978 suicide attempt, and her remarkable resurgence to gold at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. It explores the impact of Nadia’s subsequent withdrawal from international activity and reflects on burning questions surrounding the heart-stopping, border-hopping defection to the United States that she successfully undertook in November 1989. Was the defection organised by CIA agents? Was it arranged on the orders of President George Bush himself? Or was Nadia aided and abetted by some of the very Securitate officers who were meant to be watching the communist world’s most lauded sporting icon? What is revealed is a thrilling tale of endurance and escape, in which one of the world’s greatest gymnasts risked everything for freedom.
Published by Bloomsbury Australia
Released 1 June 2023
My Thoughts:‘The achievements of Nadia, her trainers, her choreographer, and the entire Olympic team belonged to them, but not in their entirety: It was deemed that it was the Communist state that had created the conditions and the means whereby they were able to stand out, and their merits therefore ultimately had to be shared with the country’s leader, Nicolae Ceausescu.’
I have a well-established interest in reading about life from inside the Communist Bloc as it was known throughout the Cold War (1947 – 1991). It’s an interest that has grown from my sociology studies and seemingly has never dwindled away. It’s a way of life that is hard to reconcile against western democratic ideals and the more I read about the various countries and the lives of their citizens and the manner in which their secret police squads exerted limitless control, the more fascinated by it all I become.
‘The web of agents that the Securitate painstakingly wove in Onesti combined with a network established in Bucharest within the Romanian Federation of Gymnastics and the National Council for Physical Education and Sport. For this reason, by late 1976, the Securitate was no longer able to be caught on the wrong foot. Intelligence officers knew everything about relationships between those in charge of gymnastics as they evolved in real time, they could anticipate events and intervene promptly to further the interests of the regime.’
This book is well written and highly accessible given the heavy political themes running through it. At times, it was a little repetitive, particularly regarding the coaches, Béla and Marta Károlyi. It didn’t follow a true linear format, so we seemed to rehash a lot about these coaches over and over, even after Nadia had moved on from them. The book stays away from Nadia’s personal life for the most part, focusing on her gymnastics career and the trajectory it followed, or rather, how it was manipulated and directed by the State. There are times when a little more of the personal would have been appreciated, but overall, I understood the reasoning behind the author’s focus and direction. This is not a biography, but rather, a closely detailed account of the politics of her career and the way in which she was policed throughout.
‘Did Nadia Comaneci enjoy a life of privilege during the Communist regime, as Iulian Vlad, the head of the Securitate, later claimed? In reports compiled by the secret police after her defection, there are paragraphs pointing out that she had led a pleasant, comfortable life, that she owned a villa with seven rooms and annexes at no. 23, Strada Rozmarin and her own Dacia 1300 motorcar.
The truth was that Nadia was not financially well off. Eery month she had to pay instalments on repairs carried out on the house in Strada Rozmarin, and often she found herself in the situation of having to sell personal items in order to make ends meet. In winter, she slept in the kitchen because the house was poorly heated. Whenever she was able, she was generous towards her friends, and she was courteous to strangers. The Communist regime has exploited her both financially and politically, subjecting her to a complicated life full of restrictions in return. What privileges and honours she did receive were deserved, although they fell far short of her genius as a gymnast and the sacrifices she had made.’
When you read a book like this, it can be confronting to realise the duplicity of humanity, the way in which people can bought and put to use. The spying and informing was just shocking. There was no one who could be fully trusted. But even that raises the question of what fear and coercion these people, those who were informing, were placed under in order to comply. It cannot be assumed that they were simply all bad people, or entirely self-serving. The book explores this explicitly within the context of the sport and the gymnastics universe that existed within Romania at the time.
While fascinating and absorbing, this was also a sobering read, not just for what happened to Nadia, but for the other gymnasts as well, and the professionals that surrounded them. What a life. Anyone with an interest in communism, gymnastics, or both, will appreciate this book. Recommended reading.
Thanks to the publisher for the review copy.
The Month That Was…
Life:
This weekend I’m attending my first session at a writer’s festival. Writers By the Sea is a biennial festival in Yeppoon and I missed the last one due to a migraine. M and I have tickets to the Saturday evening event, with Michael Robotham and Chris Hammer, also featuring a slam poet who will perform three pieces. I’m very excited and am currently reading Scrublands by Chris Hammer ahead of the event so that I have at least read one book by one of the authors. Having an event on your doorstep when you live in a regional city is not to be overlooked, so even though I’m not a fan of either of these author’s per se, I am a fan of supporting the arts and the more people who attend events such as this, the more we will see them continue.
What I’ve been watching:
There is some good TV streaming at the moment. The series finale to Firefly Lane was excellent, an inevitable tear jerker. Katherine Heigl gives such a brilliant performance throughout, I’m such a fan of hers and loved seeing her back on the small screen. Somewhere along the way I neglected to watch Little Miss Sunshine. So glad that’s been rectified, what a film! Book to screen adaptations are always a must watch for me. M and I are currently watching The Messenger. His memory of the book is fresher than mine as he only read it last year and I read it much longer ago than that. I am really enjoying it and with only two episodes left to watch, I’m filled with anticipation about how it’s all going to play out. The Great is a favourite of mine and never fails to disappoint, this newest season is shaping up to be just as entertaining as the previous seasons. I’ve just started watching Ten Pound Poms and Totally Completely Fine, both on Stan. The social history in Ten Pound Poms is definitely my sort of thing and Totally Completely Fine has the special blend of Aussie angst, humour, and drama that I like.
What I’ve been reading:
Six books this month, down three from last month. Three of these were review titles and three were from my Kobo to-be-read shelf. With the exception of Exiles, all were four and five star reads. Quality continues to win out over quantity for me. My book of the month recommendation out of these six is The Secret Book of Flora Lea. It was sublime, such a wonderfully immersive story, an engrossing historical mystery and heartbreaking family drama, all washed over with a bookish hue. Second place goes to The Albatross, a terrific Australian debut.
Before I go…
Wouldn’t you love to just sink into this and read the day away?
Until next month, good reading!
May 18, 2023
Book Review: Exiles by Jane Harper
At a busy festival site on a warm spring night, a baby lies alone in her pram, her mother vanishing into the crowds.
A year on, Kim Gillespie’s absence casts a long shadow as her friends and loved ones gather deep in the heart of South Australian wine country to welcome a new addition to the family.
Joining the celebrations is federal investigator Aaron Falk. But as he soaks up life in the lush valley, he begins to suspect this tight-knit group may be more fractured than it seems. Between Falk’s closest friend, a missing mother, and a woman he’s drawn to, dark questions linger as long-ago truths begin to emerge.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE ABIA GENERAL FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKPEOPLE ADULT FICTION BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023
Published by Pan Macmillan Australia
Released September 2022
My Thoughts:I was so looking forward to this novel, at last, Aaron Falk returns! I know everyone raves about The Dry, and I liked it well enough, but Force of Nature, the second Aaron Falk, was far more appealing to me. It was at the end of that one that I was left wanting more, hoping that this character was going to get his own long running series. Instead, Jane Harper took a break from Falk and wrote a couple of other novels, one good, one less so, and finally, after such a long wait, she returned to her first character, now immortalised on the screen by Eric Bana, AFP Detective, Aaron Falk.
I’m not going to mince words here; I’ve already wasted enough time on this book. Exiles was a massive disappointment. It’s literally about nothing. Falk travels to a small town in the Adelaide Hills to be a godfather to his friend’s baby – Raco, from The Dry, turns out those two kept in touch. Anyway, the christening coincides with the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of a local woman, not so coincidentally, the missing woman is Raco’s former sister-in-law, Kim, and they postponed the christening a year previous due to her disappearance, yet weirdly, thought it was appropriate to hold it on the anniversary of her unsolved disappearance. Also, Raco doesn’t live in the Adelaide Hills anymore, he lives in Victoria, but he and everyone else are travelling back to the scene of the crime for the christening. I know, but wait, there’s more.
From the get-go, everyone is just bumping into each other and musing about Kim’s disappearance and how she definitely wasn’t the type of woman to just wander off and leave her baby and disappear. Over and over these conversations keep happening. For almost 400 pages. It’s more domestic drama than crime, and taking centre stage is Falk’s love life, so it’s a romance too. In the end, he gets the girl, solves the crime by thinking very hard until it all falls into place just like that, embarks on a career change, and then, accidentally, also solves a local six-year-old mystery, all in the last few chapters. There was no tension, no sense of urgency, nothing to make the endurance of the previous 400 pages worthwhile.
I’m disappointed. I only finished it because it’s my book club title for this month. From an author of this calibre who has delivered such quality stories with consistency, I expected much more.
