In the tradition of Downtown Abbey comes a vivid story of life in the servant's quarters.Waratah House, a beautiful mansion in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales, is the only home Marina has ever known. Orphaned at a young age, Marina finds a new family in the colourful characters that occupy the bustling servants' quarters of this stately house.But not every resident of Waratah House has Marina's best interests at heart and she finds herself forced into exile. Years later, Marina's daughter Emily discovers the past has a way of repeating itself. She must fight for her chance at happiness – a chance that some will do anything to prevent . . .Beautifully written with wonderful period detail, Waratah House takes you into the lives of an unforgettable cast of characters who will touch your heart.
Anne Whitehead, author and historian, was born in Sydney but spent much of her childhood in England and Papua-New Guinea. Because of a peripatetic engineer father, she was educated at eleven schools, including Lincolnshire and Yorkshire villages, the PNG highland goldfields and coastal town of Lae, and boarding schools in Charters Towers and the Queensland Gold Coast. In 1972 she graduated from the University of Sydney with an MA in Australian Literature and later (2001) a PhD in Government and International Relations.
Okay, okay, so very few people have read Waratah House (on Goodreads) and it has very average reviews, but I loved this! It packs so much into its pages, spanning so many years, and the vague-as-hell blurb gives no indication as to any of it. The characters are all well developed and hot damn, I had such strong feelings for all of them.
That's not to say that Waratah House is perfect—I did give it four stars for a reason. It definitely stumbles at times, falling into cliched dialogue and characterisation. Moreover, the last bit was sucky (I have no better word for it than sucky). It was rushed, the Ringrose plot was weird, and David's turn was extra weird.
Nonetheless, I loved it. With unexpected mystical elements and fantastic colonial Australia details, Waratah House is an excellent Australian historical fiction novel.
Marina lost both her parents on the passage over to Australia from England to a virulent illness that she recovered from. Although taken in by a kindly man who had lost his son, Marina then finds herself on the outer with the man’s wife, the recalcitrant Sarah who makes no secret of the fact that she considers Marina a burden she’d rather not have. After they dock in Sydney and tragedy finds her again, Sarah comes to resent Marina even more as they take their places working at the grand old homestead known as Waratah House in the southern highlands of New South Wales. Marina quickly finds an ally and protector in the homestead’s cook, coming to love the homestead and even her role within it. She forms friendships, including one special, secret friendship that should never have occurred.
Some years later, Marina’s daughter Emily is a beautiful young teenager and in training to become the cook at Waratah House, now under new management. Emily has grown up with some of the other children, including two of Sarah’s children and although they were incredibly close as youngsters, jealousies, rivalries and unrequited passions threaten to tear them apart. History is repeating itself, with Emily facing the same resentments, the same underhanded hatreds as her mother before her and also finding herself with the same love for the homestead.
Beginning in the late 1800s and moving through to the turn of the century, Waratah House is a story of life in the servant’s quarters – the relationships formed, be they good or ill advised, the roles in which they play and the politics within that defines and changes these roles. It’s a story of great romance, faith in family and knowing that the family you have can be more than just the one that shares your blood.
I received Waratah House for review from the people at Penguin Australia and was intrigued by the premise. I haven’t read much Australian historical fiction and I was interested to read something set over 100 years ago in an area I’m actually quite familiar with. The homestead is in the Southern Highlands of NSW which is an area I lived in for four years as a child and have returned to semi-regularly over the years to visit family who live in and around the area. It’s a beautiful area and I can only imagine that it was even more so back in the time in which this novel is set.
I loved the detail in this story, beginning with the voyage of the ship from England to Australia. Marina does spend some time of it gravely ill, so the tediousness length of the trip isn’t detailed, but there’s still enough there that you get quite a feel for what it must have been like packing up their lives and setting sail for a far away country. Australia is very different to England but the first settlers did make some mistake in treating it as they would the mother country, farming it the same way and failing miserably. I found the story even more interesting when Marina and her new adopted ‘mother’ Sarah arrived at the homestead – the way in which the servants were structured, their roles and the hopes they had for certain advancement, even marrying for the purposes of advancing in the household service, were all surprising to me. I especially liked the scenes that took place within the kitchen and the homestead’s cook, known affectionately as Cookie was one of my favourite characters. She was larger than life, tough as boots and fiercely protective of first Marina and then Emily. Her gruff exterior hid a heart of gold.
I enjoyed the part of the book that was dedicated to Marina quite a lot but this did dip slightly when we jumped forward 15 or so years in time and the book focused on Marina’s daughter Emily. The book plays on a history repeating story line, and it’s quite true – there are a lot of things that do repeat and given I’d just read Marina going through them, it did detract from the overall enjoyment to read about Emily going through them so quickly. There were a lot of villains in this book as well as a lot of people in love with the same person and it made for repetitive scenes with someone either hissing vengeance or declaring undying love. I also found it strange that Emily was so determined to stay at Waratah House when there were people there so utterly determined to make her miserable and stopping at nothing to achieve it. Her stubbornness and refusal to leave and find herself a life after she lost everything that was dear to her, struck me as unrealistic. At times it seemed more like life at the homestead was just tying her down, reducing her little by little. There seemed no strength to be gained from staying and sticking it out. The curse plot wasn’t something I could really buy into given my skeptic nature but I felt that it was fitting and accurate for the time portrayed and also the characters in the novel.
Despite the few frustrations I had with some elements of the plot, I did really like reading Waratah House. It was definitely something new for me to reading a book from Australia in this time period and I really found myself enjoying the setting. I would’ve liked to have read a little more about some of the more day-to-day tasks of the various servants based on their role as I admit that my knowledge on that sort of thing is quite limited. I was a bit surprised at the ending, I expected a little more closure and although in terms there is some, Emily is still a very young girl at the conclusion of the novel and I would’ve liked to have known what the rest of her life held for her.
Waratah House is an engaging historical drama spanning the turn of the 20th century in colonial Australia. Set in the southern Highlands of New South Wales, amongst the servants of the household, Whitehead has created a story that explores tragedy repeating itself from one generation to the next and the strength it takes to rewrite one's destiny. In the first quarter of the novel we are introduced to Marina whose short life is dogged by superstition and misfortune. My sympathies lay squarely with the young girl, orphaned and then horribly victimised by Sarah, her reluctant guardian. Marina is very nearly overwhelmed by Sarah's bitterness though it is tempered somewhat by the love and care of Cookie and the other staff of the House. When an ill-advised relationship results in Marina being banished from Waratah House, she is left to fend for herself on Sydney's streets. Months later Marina, destitute, ill and starving, returns to Waratah House, desperate to find a haven for her newborn daughter. The story then moves ahead fifteen or so years to introduce Emily, Marina's daughter, who seems to be untroubled by her mother's history. Emily is content spending her days helping her mother, Cookie, in the kitchen and treasures her close friendships with the other children of Waratah House. A good natured child she is oblivious to the rivalries, resentments and passions that seethe below the surface until double tragedy strikes and, as did Marina, Emily finds herself at the mercy of Sarah's burning dislike. It seems that happiness will be as elusive for Emily as it was for her mother. To be honest I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the change in protagonist which essentially divides the story into two parts. As a whole the story just felt a little unbalanced and I would have preferred the story been Emily's with Marina's explored in some other manner. That being said I found I became invested in the lives of both women, hoping both would find happiness, preferably at the expense of Sarah. Sarah is perhaps the most complex of Whiteheads characters in Waratah House. As a result of a miserable childhood, Sarah's thoughts and emotions are badly distorted. She is the catalyst for many of the tragedies that occur in the story but unable acknowledge any responsibility, shifting blame without conscience to Marina, and later Emily. She is wholly unlikeable and yet so damaged as to be almost pitiable.
I enjoyed Waratah House particularly for its period setting but also for the strong characterisation and dramatic plot. This is the first book I have read by Ann Whitehead and has piqued my interest in her previous novels, especially Australia Street set in 1940's inner city Sydney.
After losing her family on the way to Australia, Marina finds a support network at Waratah House, amongst the servants. Most adore her but there is one who will not stop until Marina is ruined. Years later, Marina's daughter Emily is determined to not suffer the same fate.
Waratah House is a historical fiction with Downton Abbey vibes. The first half of the book focuses on Marina, then the second half follows Emily's story. Parts dragged but overall, I enjoyed it.
Set in early Australia, Waratah House is an appealing historical story of the intergenerational issues and dramas arising in the servant’s quarter of this regal home.
As a young child, Marina had loving parents who set sail to Australia to start a new life, but illness spreads throughout the ship leaving her orphaned and outcasted. The superstitious passengers fear Marina, the first to fall ill on the voyage, brought the sickness and therefore evil, she was branded with a curse. Though Marina does have an intuitive disposition, she can sense things about people and situations but she does begin to doubt her worth with these vicious allegations. A young man, James takes pity on her following the death of his son on the ship; he adopts her much to the despair of his wife, Sarah. She too was drawn into this invented curse, blaming Marina for her son’s death; she takes an instant disliking to her. This dislike evolves into an intense hatred as Marina becomes the symbol for all the injustices in Sarah’s life and intensifies further when her husband is killed in an accident with a horse.
Sarah and Marina, join the servant ranks at Waratah House, in the southern highlands where Marina remains under Sarah’s punitive care. Despite the many forms of abuse Marina is subjected to by Sarah’s abhorrence, Marina’s gentle disposition attracts many friends and admirers at Waratah House, including the head cook, Cookie who regards Marina like a daughter. Marina is wonderful with the young children and befriends the young Edward who has a status in society that requires their friendship remains hidden. As they move into their mid-teens their friendship advances into a love affair that Sarah soon learns of. Sarah’s interference has Marina exiled from Waratah House as a homeless pregnant teen.
Just before the halfway-mark in the book, the protagonist switches to that of Emily, Marina’s daughter who is brought up as Cookie’s daughter at Waratah House. I was quite surprised by this decision as I had firmly aligned myself with Marina and hoped to see her story through. It was a little disconcerting to see Emily grow up in similar circumstances to her mother and again become the target of Sarah’s jealous tendencies and fantasies. When a series of tragedies leaves Emily orphaned and grieving the young man, Tim who she planned to marry. Sarah outcasts her again and brands her with the curse of death and it’s not long before Emily begins to believe this. Her time at Waratah House is further complicated by Sarah’s children Esther and David. Ester, much like her mother is jealous and spiteful towards Emily, despite their early close friendship and David, on the other hand is in love with her but unable to contain his feelings causes a rift in their friendship too.
Sarah was a very difficult character, although her early experiences of abuse and neglect were examined in the story she has little insight into the effects of these on her capacity to connect with others as evident in the demise of her second marriage and the tense relationship with her colleagues and children. There were times when I really questioned Sarah’s sanity which was in marked contrast to Marina and Emily’s soft-natured, naïve temperaments. I a little disappointed that Sarah didn’t really grow as a character, she continued to worsen and her issues with Marina and Emily were unresolved by the ending.
I enjoyed Emily’s continuation of Marina’s role at Waratah House but my interest did wane slightly when the protagonist was substituted and I couldn’t help but wonder whether there was another way it could have been structured- either Marina’s story being cut back to a smaller portion of the story or for Marina’s story to be told through Emily/ Cookie’s story to make it more comfortable for the reader to connect with them both instead of the first half of the book being a different story to the second half.
Overall, Waratah House is an enjoyable read about the lower-class residents of early Australia and I liked the communal and intimate feel of the home and all of the staff who come and go. I could connect with this place as home for both Marina and Emily despite some of the atrocities they experienced in their time there.
I’m all for a good period drama and Waratah House certainly delivers on this level. The world of Australia in the late 1800’s is interwoven elegantly into the story, with the effect being that you are immersed in the period effortlessly. Whether it’s enduring the hardships of the journey from England to Australia, or treading the streets of Sydney’s Rocks area as an unwed pregnant woman searching for work, Whitehead demonstrates she’s a historical author of clout, and comparisons with another of Australia’s greats, Kate Grenville, come to mind.
The story follows the lives of orphaned Marina, who comes to Waratah House with her unlikely guardian, Sarah. It’s this relationship that forms the axis of conflict for the novel as Sarah has lost her own son at sea, and then not long after arriving at port, her gentle-spirited husband. It was he who insisted Marina come under their guardianship after losing her parents and it is on the unsuspecting shoulders of Marina that Sarah blames the entirety of her own misfortune. Indeed, she claims the girl to be cursed.
Waratah House becomes the setting for the many characters and relationships to play out and like any great epic saga, and love, friendship, jealously, revenge and hatred are dished out in good measure. It follows two generations, first Marina and then the story of her daughter, Emily.
Whitehead is true to the period and the hardships her characters face are not always met with victory, but serve to demonstrate the harsh realities of the time. Adept as Whitehead is with the historical aspects of the novel, it’s the characters and their relationships that readers will find themselves turning the pages for.
This was brought home to me personally at the end of the novel – there is a promise of a brighter future, but I found myself slightly disappointed because I wasn’t willing to let go quite yet. I wanted to continue with the characters on their journey and see what tomorrow held for them.
This Australian novel, Waratah House, set in colonial Australia is a story, for me, filled with drama, upsets and tragedy which seems to follow down the generations. It certainly relates to how hard life was back then and although I did enjoy the story, I found it just a nice, easy read. Ann Whitehead is a good writer who can set the scene quite well – and you can easily imagine yourself in that era through her descriptions. There was only one loose end I would have liked tied up and that was Emily meeting her father. But all in all, an engaging, ok read……if you like books set in this time centred around the servants of the wealthy, you will like this read.
Very Downtown Abbeyish, although set in Australia. I enjoyed the story, however I did find that it became a little too over-the-top and I found myself thinking that the revenge side of things was just getting too much. Personally I think I would have liked to have seen Emily's father return as the new owner of Waratah House and she take up her rightful position alongside him - she then would finally have the upper hand on Sarah.
An unsettling read, for all that it's well written. For that very reason, I would have loved an epilogue to lighten up the ending. Cliched, yes, but I'm funny like that ;-)