The Peacock Summer in Aussie Readers

Jun 16, 2018 Brenda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, 5000-books, reviewing-by-request, own-read, historical-fiction, 2018-release, arc

Lillian was a naïve young woman of twenty-one when the wealthy and aristocratic Charles Oberon asked for her hand in marriage. She only had her beloved sister Helene to care for, and Charles assured her he would take care of her needs. Lillian loved Charles’ six-year-old son, Albie and in her innocence, thought she could make a difference to the man who had lost so much. Living in the Chilterns manor house, Cloudesley, Lillian began to feel trapped and caged – but she had no choice. This was her Lillian was a naïve young woman of twenty-one when the wealthy and aristocratic Charles Oberon asked for her hand in marriage. She only had her beloved sister Helene to care for, and Charles assured her he would take care of her needs. Lillian loved Charles’ six-year-old son, Albie and in her innocence, thought she could make a difference to the man who had lost so much. Living in the Chilterns manor house, Cloudesley, Lillian began to feel trapped and caged – but she had no choice. This was her life and her future with a damaged and volatile husband.

The summer that Charles hired a young artist to do a commission for him in one of the rooms of the manor became a changing point in Lillian’s life. Lillian was twenty-six, exhausted and robotic in her endeavours to keep her husband happy. The constant parties where she needed to impress drained the life from her – it was only Albie who kept her sane. But then Jack arrived…

Almost sixty years later, Maggie Oberon, Lillian’s granddaughter, was in Australia when she received the phone call to say her beloved grandmother had taken ill. Immediately rushing to be by her side, Maggie knew she would face aggression and censure over the events of her leaving twelve months prior. But her priority was Lillian. She had raised Maggie – and Maggie owed her everything. But Cloudesley was falling into ruin – the repairs the old manor needed were too many to be attempted; the debts insurmountable. What would Maggie do?

As the past slowly came to light, Maggie found it only created more questions. Would she be able to decipher the secrets of Cloudesley, or would the manor keep them hidden for all time?

The long awaited new novel from Aussie author Hannah Richell does not disappoint. The Peacock Summer, apart from having a divine cover, is a heartbreaking and heartfelt story of love, loss and dark secrets. The answer to one of the questions when it came, was a shock – I didn’t see it coming! Poignant, intriguing and utterly captivating, The Peacock Summer is one I have no hesitation in highly recommending.

With thanks to Hachette AU for my copy to read and review.
...more

57 likes · Like · see review

Jul 21, 2018 Marg rated it it was amazing

Shelves: audio-book, aww2018

I have mixed emotions after
finishing this book. I am really glad to have read the conclusion but sad to be saying farewell at the same time.

I love dual timeline books and this is a good example of why.

Such a good read. My favourite book this year so far

#aussieauthor #awwc

4 likes · Like · see review

Jun 28, 2018 Helen rated it it was amazing

I don’t know where to start, this one has left me in awe what a story, a compelling, captivating story, a story of two woman Lillian Oberon and her granddaughter Maggie Oberon related not by blood but by love and caring and a family estate with treasures and secrets and what happens in their lives sixty years apart, this is a story that pulled me in, the characters so alive and genuine I felt their pain and their love, this is a story that you will not want to miss.

Lillian lives a quiet life in I don’t know where to start, this one has left me in awe what a story, a compelling, captivating story, a story of two woman Lillian Oberon and her granddaughter Maggie Oberon related not by blood but by love and caring and a family estate with treasures and secrets and what happens in their lives sixty years apart, this is a story that pulled me in, the characters so alive and genuine I felt their pain and their love, this is a story that you will not want to miss.

Lillian lives a quiet life in the country after the war with her sister and the wonderful lady who took them in after she lost her mother and father, fate steps in when she is riding her bike one day and she meets Charles Oberon and his young son Albie, Charles is a strong man and a widower it is the 1950’s and soon he is proposing to Lillian. The wedding is small and soon she is living at Cloudesley Manor in the Chiltern Hills, and Lillian is determined to be the best step-mother to Albie and a good wife, she does love Albie but she soon learns that her husband can be a very hard and difficult man to live with and her life is changing.

Charles hires a young artist Jack Fincher, during the summer to make over the nursey in the manor he wants this to be very special, but as Jack spends time living at Cloudesley he and Lillian become very close and the world that Lillian knew is turned upside down and there are many hurts to more than one person.

Years later Lillian’s granddaughter Maggie arrives at Cloudesley dropped off by her father Albie, she is brought up by Lillian and they are very close, but when Maggie runs from the village years later wanting to leave behind what she has done and arrives in Australia looking for who knows, she just wants to forget, but when her grandmother takes ill Maggie returns to care for the one person she has always loved and felt loved by, this is going to make her face up to a lot of truths and there are a lot of secrets to be unearthed.

I did love this story, Lillian what a woman truly a beautiful caring loving person who never thought of herself only of others, living all of those years with her damaged and cruel husband, worrying over Albie and his disappearances, but she will never forget that summer of love with Jack. Then we have Maggie her life with Lillian and her invalid grandfather, a father who was not around much, her best friends from the village and then the shock of returning to Cloudesley and finding the room that helped her discover the truth. MS Richell thank you for a story that is going to stay with me for a long time to come, there were tears and heartbreak but it is beautiful, amazing and one that I highly recommend.
...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 03, 2019 Kim rated it really liked it

Shelves: act-library, 2018-read, 2019-read, aww2019

I was surprised to read in the acknowledgements at the end of the book that this entertaining summer read was written by the same Hannah who's story of how she came (or is going) through the aftermath of her husband's death was featured in Leigh Sale's exceptional book "Any Ordinary Day".

I was enjoying the story but felt a stumbling in the writing part way through, it seemed to become pedestrian for a moment until it seemed to rally for me at the end. And then at the end I learn that her husban ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 06, 2018 Kathryn rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, australian-authors, reading-list-2018, related-to-time

3.5★

This is Hannah Richell's third book, and I've read each of them and I can see her writing getting better and better!

Having said that, I didn't enjoy this quite as much as I enjoyed The Shadow Year, perhaps because I felt that it was a bit over-sentimental at times. It was also probably disadvantaged by the fact that I was reading a rather terrible book at the same time on audio that had one similar aspect of the plot, so I think some of my feelings for both books have blurred into each other ...more

Like · see review