Book Review: The Lyrebird Lake Ladies Choir by Sandie Docker
Sisters Eleanor and Maggie have been running the Lyrebird Lake Ladies Choir for fifteen years. It has become a haven for the lost and lonely women who have found their home in the stately federation house by the lake. When Eleanor enters the choir into the All Voices Championship, it offers them all a chance to make up for lost dreams.
Single mum Hannah arrives in Lyrebird Lake, homeless after being widowed and hoping for a new start with her son. With her angelic voice, Hannah could give the choir a winning edge. But when Eleanor hears her singing a long-forgotten lullaby, she is transported to her past, a traumatic time when two teenage girls were banished from their Irish homeland to a faraway country.
Will Hannah’s arrival mend old wounds, or will the secret she unknowingly carries tear the sisters apart?
A lyrical, deeply moving story of facing secrets, finding your way back home, and the power of discovering your voice.
Published by Penguin Australia
Released June 2024
My Thoughts:Rating: 5 stars
Why I chose it: Sandie Docker can always be relied upon for a good read.
Themes: Homelessness, forced adoption, friendships, family, starting over.
For fans of: Contemporary Australian novels that combine feel good aspects with topical themes.
The good: This was a brilliant novel. Sandie’s chosen topic of homelessness of people we don’t generally associate with homelessness is of rising importance. Older women are fast making up more and more of the homeless population within Australia due to life factors rather than substance abuse.
The not so good: Nothing to report here. I loved it all.
In brief: The Lyrebird Lake Ladies Choir is a thought-provoking look at the growing epidemic of homelessness in Australia alongside a dive into a dark part of Australia’s social welfare history, the forced adoptions that were in place from around the mid 1950s to the early 1980s. The heavier parts of the narrative are balanced with the cheeriness of the choir and its members. I really enjoyed this one and found it tugging on my heartstrings in unexpected ways. Highly recommended, very well suited to book clubs.
Thanks for the review copy goes to: Penguin Australia.
