The Plantation

by Di Morrissey

When Australian Julie Reagan discovers a book written about wild Malaysia in the 1970s, she decides to find out more about the author - her great aunt. Why did her grandmother refuse to speak about her sister who disappeared from the family, 60 years before? What caused such a severe rift? Julie is invited to stay with her cousins who run the plantation founded by her great grandfather in Malaya a hundred years ago, and she decides to visit in the hope of finding clues to this family mystery. What Julie finds sends her spiralling through generations of loves, deaths, tragedy and the challenges of the present until she discovers her grandmother's shocking secret.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Chick Lit, Audiobook, Australia, Unfinished

468 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Di Morrissey (born 18 March 1943 in Wingham, New South Wales) is one of Australia's most popular female novelists. She grew up in the remote surrounds of Pittwater, north of Sydney, Australia.

Growing up she counted famous Australian actor Chips Rafferty as a close mentor and friend who helped provide for her and her mother after the death of her father as a child, sending them overseas to California to live with family.

In her later years, Di went on to become a journalist on London's Fleet Street, and worked for CBS in Honolulu, where she lived with her husband who was in the foreign service, and even had a small role in the series Hawaii Five-0, a guest role in season three, episode seven, 1970 starring as 'Alicia Anderson'.

After moving back to Australia, Di published her first book 'Heart of the Dreaming' which instantly became a bestseller. Since then Di has published another 17 bestsellers, her latest being 'The Silent Country'.

Reviews

[Pete Loveday · Rating 3 out of 5]

Against my better judgement, I started another Di Morrissey book. I really wish that I hadn't!

This is a pleasant story of Julie wanting to trace her Family History. Set in both Brisbane, 2009 and Malaya 1937-1945, we are taken on uninspiring journey to the lives of the rubber plantations of the pre war era. Not a lot happens and the pleasant story just lacks suspense and intrigue.

As I once was told by a talented author, "if nothing has happened by the third paragraph, then it never will".

My previously held view of this author has been reinforced.

[Sue Gerhardt Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️s


I nice easy listen. Enjoyed learning about the rubber plantation and the history of Malaysia. The characters were great and interesting. The family secret that the book is based on was surprising. A lovely and gentle story.


Audiobook via BorrowBox
Published by: Bolinda audio
Read by Kate Hood
Duration: 14 hrs, 24 min. 1.25x Speed

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre at best. Not awful, but not something I'd recommend to anyone I liked. I was irritated by the great chunks of pedantic lecturing and politically correct finger-shaking. Most readers would be astute enough to decide that ruining the land is bad for the environment and don't really need the heavy-handed discourse. The plot is put on 'pause' while the author delivers a sermon about our evil ways ... then on with the story. Very annoying.

[Kerry Hennigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Australia’s most popular novelist, Di Morrissey, has produced another bumper tale that incorporates real history and ecological concerns into the story of different members of a family widespread over Malaysia and Australia and separated, and in some cases reunited, over the course of decades. Di’s best books, in my opinion, are those with evocative settings, places the reader might long to visit but may not always be able to do so. Di has based stories from Broome WA to Byron Bay NSW, and from South America to Malaysia. The Plantation is set in the latter, and is the story of a young Queensland woman, Julie Reagan, who traces her roots back to the old family property in Malaysia. Along the way we visit Penang, Langkawi and Kuching in Sarawak, and travel up river to visit the native people still clinging to their traditional long house style of living. Meantime, back home, Julie’s mother’s old family house and other Heritage-listed properties are threatened by a proposed freeway by-pass. There’s a lot going on here, including the destruction of the natural habitat that is home to the magnificent orangutans of Borneo. With the story switching back and forth between Julie, her mother Carolyn and others in the present, to their colonizing forebears in Malaysia during the pre and post-WWII years, plus the years in-between of Japanese occupation, one could be forgiven for losing the plot in the maze of characters and settings. But Di Morrissey, while continuing to write in her rather simplistic, easy-to-digest style, knows how to entertain an audience. Like all her previous novels – some better than others – The Plantation is not a novel that attempts to masquerade as literature. It is popular fiction, entertainment in book form, and as such, is another winner. Oh, and it just may have you packing your bags for Penang, Langkawi or Kuching! But if you visit the Orangutans in the jungle, don’t expect to see them swinging by or gripping tree limbs with their tails!!! Not sure how that clangor slipped bast Di’s editor, but it did, on a couple of occasions. Ooops!

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book! Combining Australia and Malaya before and during the war years, and a family that split apart after the war. Come to current times, and Julie Reagan, who is a grand-daughter of one of the sisters, has a great determination to discover what happened all those years ago. Follow her journey of discovery, and you'll have trouble putting the book down, as you need to continue right to the very end to discover the shocking truth that was kept secret for so long!

[Cheryll · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry Di Morrissey but I found this book extremely boring! The conversations lacked any substance and I felt like I was reading a Janet and John book! I kept waiting for something to happen - but it never did! I didn't take to any of the characters and just found the whole story very weak. Are memoirs supposed to include dialogue? I struggled to get through this book and won't read anything else she has written.

[Deb Batten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very average writing style.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book very much. Was long winded and really did not capture me.

[Coco · Rating 3 out of 5]

War ganz okay mehr aber auch leider nicht.

[Hannah Barclay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ lots of really interesting content but too slow for me

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book to read on the tram or just before bed. Interesting story about a family and the history of Malaysia 1930-1960ish. Not a must read, but it was my first Di Morrissey and I will look forward to another.

[Itchy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skipped over the lecturing and preaching parts. The rest of the book was ordinary and naive. Orangutans don't have tails. The only other Di Morrissey book I've read was OK - this one wasn't and it will be my last.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

pleasant story about family history research

[Bethan Hazell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Utter shite

[Lyn Ambrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julie Reagan is a member of an Australian family with a seemingly turbulent past. When her grandmother was alive she refused to talk about her sister, Julie's great-aunt Bette. Aunt Bette disappeared from the family sixty years ago and no-one in the family knows why. Upon discovering a book Aunt Bette has written about her life in Borneo in the 1970s, Julie seeks to find answers to this mystery.

She thus sets off to a rubber plantation in Malaysia, founded by her great-grandfather one hundred years ago. It is now run by two cousins she has never met.

The book provides an interesting overview of life in modern Malaysia and life in Malaya in colonial times, when Aunt Bette lived there. It traverses World War II and the impact on that country and the people living on rubber plantations, as well as those being affected by the clearing of forests.

Julie's search takes her from one side of Malaysia to the other while her quest joins family life in Australia to past and present family life in Malaysia as she seeks answers to her many questions. The conclusion is very surprising.

This is another great story by Di Morrisey who is one of Australia's top and most popular authors.

[Sarah Johnston · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Plantation is a family saga set amongst the rubber plantations of Malaya pre- and post-World War II by Australian author Di Morrissey’s novel

The novel skillfully crosses between modern-day Malaysia, the period before and during WWII and post war - Malaya's struggle for independence as well as Australia, both past and present.

A good read but if you are looking for a more in depth story of the times - this may not be the book for you.

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Plantation is a story about a family who gain connection with their extended family living in Malaysia. Julie, one of the main characters, and approximately 20-30 years old goes over the Malaysia and visits her cousins. She meets their friends and becomes attached to Chris. Chris ends up coming back to Brisbane, where Julie lives. The story tends to drag on a bit and doesn't have too many cliff hangers at all.

[Fatema Johera Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

My second de Morrissey novel and an interesting one at that because it is set partly in Australia and Malaysia as well as spanning different time periods and generations in a family. The bit about the Japanese invasion of Malaysia was probably the most interesting section as the novel focused mostly on the white people’s perspective of the Japanese invasion of Malaya and the years that followed as Malaya secured its independence from the British.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

ORANGUTANS DON'T HAVE TAILS! And her description of KL seemed as if it was from a travel brochure and not the Kuala Lumpur I know. So it was hard to trust that she knew anything about the historical facts and locations she placed her book in. I also found the dialogue very hard to believe and the constant change of POV was distracting. However I did get through the book in a short time and the overall storyline was interesting.

[Rae Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

#221 in 2025
Historical novel spanning 1937 to 2009
Following a you Margaret marrying a Rubber Plantation owner Roland and their lives in Malaysia. Horrors of Malaysia being invaded during the war.
Margaret's family based in Brisbane, Australia and the stories that follow in the next 2 generations.

[Alison Philp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dip into the colonial past adding colour and humanity to a want-to-know-more story with an intriguing mystery attached. The characters were all so true that I felt I knew them from real life, and I could have continued reading about them.

[Shona · Rating 2 out of 5]

458 pages.
I found this book very hard to get into. Julie traces her family history, going between Australia and Malaya (before and during the war years), where the family is split. This was an uninspiring journey where not a lot happens. I wouldn’t read this again, once was enough.

[Rachel Bourke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good storyline but the book is quite dated even though it was written in 2010. A very long book and interesting enough but a bit frustrating to read. It was quite twee and I wanted to shake one or two of the characters.

[Dragonladymoi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another enjoyable read by Di Morrissey.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5
Mediocre. Could not recommend to anyone but I didn't hate it.

[Kathy Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved an Australian novel with some historical facts about the war. Easy read. Nice

[Miriam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant I cried, I laughed and I smiled. This book gave me so many emotions. I loved it.

[Heeyeon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read, not very suspenseful. Writing is just mediocre…. Things about plantation were interesting and history about Malaysia

[Marg Harm · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read. As always.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasn't a fan.