Iron Junction in Aussie Readers

Jan 06, 2014 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it really liked it

Shelves: aussie-author, arc-are, netgalley-reviews

A contemporary rural fiction novel, Iron Junction is Charlotte Nash's engaging second book, loosely linked to her 2013 debut, Ryders Ridge.

Fleeing a failed engagement and the censure of her family, Doctor Beth Harding accepts a locum position in a small mining town thousands of kilometers from her home in suburban Sydney. Her first week in the clinic, serving the local community and mine workers, runs smoothly but after Beth foolishly gets stuck in the middle of nowhere exploring the surroundin
A contemporary rural fiction novel, Iron Junction is Charlotte Nash's engaging second book, loosely linked to her 2013 debut, Ryders Ridge.

Fleeing a failed engagement and the censure of her family, Doctor Beth Harding accepts a locum position in a small mining town thousands of kilometers from her home in suburban Sydney. Her first week in the clinic, serving the local community and mine workers, runs smoothly but after Beth foolishly gets stuck in the middle of nowhere exploring the surrounding desert, and the mine boss starts interfering in her clinical decisions, she begins to second guess her decision to spend six weeks in Western Australia's remote Pilbara region. Perhaps she had made the wrong choice to escape Sydney, and Richard? But leaving would mean admitting defeat... and giving up on the chance of something new with engineer, Will Walker.

Romance is a significant element of the plot but the individual emotional development of Beth and Will receives equal emphasis. Both protagonists struggle with self doubt stemming from strained family relations as well as external pressures related to their work at Iron Junction. Their budding relationship is additionally hampered by Beth having just escaped a relationship where she traded her autonomy for acceptance and Will is haunted by a tragedy in his past that has made him believe he is not a worthy of a committed relationship. It is a lot for the pair to negotiate and Nash does well to bring them together in a realistic manner.

Rural and medical romance are regarded as two sub genres of contemporary romance yet Nash successfully blends the two in Iron Junction. The reader is privy to Beth's consultations with her patients, revealing the types of injuries common to mine workers but the most important subplot explores the limitations of regional medicine by introducing an Aboriginal woman suffering from a serious lung disease as a result of untreated childhood pneumonia. A liaison officer with a talent for photography, Caitlin Murray's health crisis results in one of the book's most dramatic moments.

Combining romance and drama in a vivid Australian landscape, I found Iron Junction to be an enjoyable read and I look forward to her next novel.

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Apr 01, 2014 Bree T rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, kindle-version, netgalley, australian, rural-lit, aww2014

Dr Beth Harding has made yet another decision that sets her apart from her family, one that she knows they’ll question, especially her mother. She feels the need to get away from it all, go somewhere where all of the pressure to fit in and expectations on her behaviour are gone. So she accepts a job as a locum at Iron Junction, a mining community in the Pilbara. It’s a long way from Manly in Sydney and that’s exactly what she wants.

The mine is growing rapidly and it seems that the added pressure Dr Beth Harding has made yet another decision that sets her apart from her family, one that she knows they’ll question, especially her mother. She feels the need to get away from it all, go somewhere where all of the pressure to fit in and expectations on her behaviour are gone. So she accepts a job as a locum at Iron Junction, a mining community in the Pilbara. It’s a long way from Manly in Sydney and that’s exactly what she wants.

The mine is growing rapidly and it seems that the added pressures on the workers to meet targets is leading to some injuries, some of which are worsening unnecessarily because the injured patients aren’t taking the time off required to rest and recuperate. Beth is concerned about what’s going on and the fact that she’s expected to just ignore these injuries and tell the workers that they are fine to return to duty. When she starts making noises and expressing her concerns about what’s happening, she finds herself shut down with threats of negative reports back to the agency that got her the job.

Will Walker was born and raised on a cattle farm but that wasn’t the life for him – he’s left that to his father and his brother and instead works on the mines as an engineer. Sent to Iron Junction, Will finds himself rescuing Beth when she gets a flat battery and from there the two fall into an easy friendship that Will would like to be more but Beth’s recent break up keeps him firmly in the friends camp…for now. The two spend plenty of time together and share some of their concerns about what is going on. For Will, Beth is an unexpected bonus in the FIFO life, someone who is much more than just a catch up fitted in between shifts. But Will is still haunted by something in his past, believing himself not worthy of a relationship with someone like Beth and the decisions he makes have far-reaching consequences as they separate and come together again in a dangerous storm. Can Will ever put the past behind him and move on? And will Beth accept him and everything that he has in his past and give happiness another chance?

Iron Junction is Charlotte Nash’s second novel and I didn’t realise until I began reading it that it was linked somewhat to her first novel, Ryder’s Ridge which I haven’t read. Our hero in this novel is the brother of the hero in Ryder’s Ridge and the characters get a mention occasionally and appear towards the end. However I think that this novel works well if you haven’t read Ryder’s Ridge although I will be tracking it down soon because I enjoyed this and think that I’ll like Ryder’s Ridge equally as much.

I’ve read a few books set in the Pilbara in the last couple of years and I find the setting fascinating. I was born on the east coast and I’ve never been to Perth, much less some of the more remote areas of WA and I find them so interesting to read about, especially the fabulous descriptions. This one is rife with depiction of the local area, seen through the eyes of both Beth, who is a budding photographer and Caitlin, a young Aboriginal girl who is also a photographer. Caitlin takes wonderful photos and Beth is learning to do so as well, using an old SLR camera that belonged to her father. I love taking photos myself (although am very much an amateur) so I enjoyed what extra that added to the story and Beth’s character.

I really appreciated the way Nash developed the romance between Will and Beth. Both characters have some issues stemming from their past – Beth from her upbringing, where she’s never quite fitted in and always been made to feel self-conscious and Will from an incident many years ago that may be coming back to haunt him here in the present. Because of her recent break-up, Beth wants to maintain a friendship with Will and so they are first, friends. And then when Beth decides to take the plunge and go to the next level, Will gets cold feet, still troubled by his past. It sets them back in a very realistic fashion and loved the natural progression of their relationship from beginning to end. I also loved Will’s ability to see Beth’s mother very clearly and the fact that he had her back 100%. I would’ve loved to see some action from Beth about her father after what she discovered late in the book but I do understand that making a decision like that would take some time. I’d also love to see a book about Daniella’s brother Captain Bell in the future. He’s only a very minor character in this one but I liked him and think he’d make a great focus for a future book.

Iron Junction is a very enjoyable rural romance with lots of other elements as well. The story revolving around the mine and the meeting and exceeding of productivity felt very relevant. I haven’t worked on mines obviously but I can imagine that at times, there is pressure to get things done, to keep productivity as high as possible, perhaps not to the level that is in this story but it made for a very good discussion point. I found the inclusion of Caitlin’s story a really interesting touch – actually I’d like to hope she might get her own story one day too! ...more

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