The Redgum River Retreat in Aussie Readers

Apr 24, 2023 Helen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: borrowed-from-library

Another beautiful story from the wonderful pen of MS Sandie Docker, her stories are filled with emotion and honest people and stories that will pull the reader in from page one and this one is a gorgeous story of love, hope, heartache and healing as Rosalie, Sarah and Melody put the past behind them and look to the future in the small town of Redgum River.

Sarah is a gifted cellist and single mum to Melody, driving home from a concert at the Opera House they are in a terrible car accident that se ...more

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Mar 16, 2023 Brenda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: aussie-authors, sent-by-publisher, reviewing-by-request, 3500-2023, 2023-release, contemporary-fiction, own-read, arc

Single mother Sarah and her young daughter Melody, were on their way home from a concert in the Sydney Opera House, where Sarah had starred, when a dreadful accident hit their lives. Now, twelve months on and Melody's selective mutism along with the fact she would never walk again, ate Sarah up inside. Sarah's injuries had healed, at least on the outside, but her guilt didn't ever leave her. Sarah and Melody now lived in Sarah's grandmother's guest house on the property, along with Ryan, Sarah's ...more

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Apr 16, 2023 Catsalive rated it liked it

Shelves: aww, 2023

A nice enough story but it didn't with me.

I enjoyed the 1945 timeline more than the contemporary one, even though I found Rosalie over-sensitive, rash & ungrateful. I loved the 'Snapshots From Home League' part of the story, I'd never heard of it before & found it all quite fascinating. The fact that Rosalie was the photographer for the snaps from her local area & then went on to become an award-winning photographic journalist was brilliant. I didn't find the love story terribly engaging, though ...more

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Jul 13, 2023 Tien rated it liked it

Shelves: for-review, australia, australian-author, contemporary, womens-lit

This review is way overdue but I had a car accident just as I started reading this. And while my accident wasn't in any way close in consequences as the one at the start of this book (just a ding to our cars), my head was swamped with what-ifs so I just had to put this read aside for some time.

Getting back into it was fairly easy; these characters were so likeable and I could pick up the thread of the stories with no problem at all. The last Sandie Docker's book I read reduced me to a sobbing bl ...more

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Jun 10, 2023 Rina rated it liked it

3.5 stars.

Single mother Sarah was guilt-ridden when an accident left her young daughter Melody seriously injured and their once music-filled lives silent. When she discovered her grandmother Rosalie’s war correspondence, she thought she might have found a solution to her family’s problems in Redgum River Retreat. In 1945, Rosalie was a bright young woman pursuing career in journalism. She took photos of families back home for soldiers serving in the war. Her life turned upside down when the two ...more

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