The Way From Here in Aussie Readers

Feb 27, 2022 Brenda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, own-read, historical-mystery, net-galley, aussie-authors, 2022-release, contemporary-fiction, 3500-2022, read-on-kindle

When Susie Anderson unexpectedly died on the eve of her fortieth birthday, everyone was shocked. She was too young. But when her sister Camilla (Mills) received a package in the mail from Susie, which held six letters, written and marked for Mills to read in order, she found herself setting off first to London. Susie had been travelling Europe back in 1998 and the letters saw Mills following in her footsteps, discovering what Susie saw and did all those years prior. Mills also had Susie’s ashes ...more

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Mar 07, 2022 Helen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: review-copy-from-netgalley

This is the first book from this author that I have read and it is a well written story that takes in the lives past and present of woman from one family two sisters Camilla (Mills) and Susie and their mother Margaret there is also Margaret’s mother Nellie that plays a part in this one as well, it starts in Australia and then we travel to England and France, the story is told from different points of view and some in the form of letters, it was a compelling story with many twists and turns and o This is the first book from this author that I have read and it is a well written story that takes in the lives past and present of woman from one family two sisters Camilla (Mills) and Susie and their mother Margaret there is also Margaret’s mother Nellie that plays a part in this one as well, it starts in Australia and then we travel to England and France, the story is told from different points of view and some in the form of letters, it was a compelling story with many twists and turns and one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Susie Anderson is the youngest daughter to Margaret and Bill she has grown up on an outback station in Western Australia and is often in trouble at home, she couldn’t be more different from her older sister Mills who seems to be always getting her out of trouble, when at the age of nineteen she causes more problems she decides that a gap year in England would be perfect for her so off she goes never dreaming what this time would do to her.

When Susie suddenly dies just before her fortieth birthday, everyone is shocked and when Mills is handed a bunch of letters from Susie requesting that she retrace her journey all those years ago and scatter her ashes in places that meant so much to her and also uncover some secrets that had been kept for many years about the family. Mills is not normally a person to jump in feet first but this time she does and what she finds is a story of regret, sadness and so much more.

It took me a bit to get into this one until I got to know the characters and had a feel for the story but when I did it was a book I didn’t want to put down, so many secrets that start way back with Nellie and then Margaret and then Susie who uncovers so much but didn’t quite get to the truth I think, until Mills arrived and then Margaret and together they got to the bottom of it all. There are many emotions through this story and such beautiful settings, I really liked Susie I felt for her so much she was caring and vulnerable and I liked the other characters probably except for one. This is a great story and one I would highly recommend.

My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my copy to read and review.
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Mar 10, 2022 Bree T rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, contemporary, hist-contemp-blend, family

I found this to be an interesting and engrossing read.

Sisters Susie and Camilla have been very different from childhood. Older child Camilla is quiet and ordered, always does what is expected of her, often spent her childhood lost in a book. In contrast, Susie is boisterous and adventurous, always wanting to push the boundaries a little, sometimes with bad consequences. Susie left to travel overseas after finishing school and when she returned she seemed different, but Camilla never really inves I found this to be an interesting and engrossing read.

Sisters Susie and Camilla have been very different from childhood. Older child Camilla is quiet and ordered, always does what is expected of her, often spent her childhood lost in a book. In contrast, Susie is boisterous and adventurous, always wanting to push the boundaries a little, sometimes with bad consequences. Susie left to travel overseas after finishing school and when she returned she seemed different, but Camilla never really investigated it too thoroughly. The sisters drifted apart, Susie living abroad and when she did show up, often caused disruption and frustrated Camilla’s husband. However no one expected Susie to die young, just before her 40th birthday in a tragic accident.

Somewhat uncharacteristically having planned for this, Susie leaves Camilla some letters which she instructs be read in places far from Camilla’s home in Australia. Camilla does a very out of character thing herself in some ways, in using her meagre savings to carry out Susie’s wishes but in other ways, Camilla follows things to the letter and if anyone would do this, she would. Her travels take her to a museum in London, a small French island and a farm in Devon, where Susie’s letters reveal what happened when she was abroad as a young woman and how her incredible discovery is tied to their own mother Margaret and her time in London, a lifetime ago.

I’m the same age as Susie – I just recently turned 40 and although I thought it’d be a big deal when I was in my early-to-middle thirties, I have to admit that when it rolled around, it really wasn’t the sort of number that gave me panic. It felt no different being 40 than it did being 39. But the idea of dying at this age is terrifying and I can understand Camilla’s complex grief as Susie did seem a very….challenging character at times, especially to have as a sister. But the journey Camilla takes to read the letters and also spread Susie’s ashes in places that were important to her, will not only help uncover a family secret but I think it also helps her understand her sister much better.

I really enjoyed the twists and turns in this book – trying to guess where it was heading, especially when the book goes back in time and shows us Susie’s time overseas. Going to the museum in London and meeting David and throwing caution to the wind and impulsively following him to a small French island, the île de Clair. I have to admit, I did wonder at Susie’s decision making, because I found David a little….off-putting as a character. I didn’t see what Susie did at all but then again she was very young, around 19 and quite impressionable and halfway around the world, away from home. Jumping into a connection and wanting to be involved, might be more understandable in her situation than it would be in mind. I do feel however, that Susie definitely ignored a lot of weird things until…..well, until the reason she ends up returning to Australia, when Camilla realises that her sister is different.

The book threw up several surprises, which was fun. I had some guesses about where it was going and although I was on the right track, I was also a little wrong as well. I thought a lot of the complex relationships between the characters were developed really well – particularly Camilla and Susie, even though they never interact in the present day. But Camilla in the current timeline and Susie through the flashbacks from when she was younger, give such an insight into their sibling relationship, when they are younger and then when they are adults. And also their relationships with their mother, their relationships with their grandmother. And the section on their mother Margaret was a surprise but slotted neatly into the story and worked.
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