Barbara Hannay
Reviewed by Helen
MS Hannay has written another story that will engage the reader with characters who are so full of charm, these characters are so real and come to life on the pages they pull you into their lives whether it be in Shanghai around war time or a beautiful country town Burralea in the Tablelands of northern Queensland in 2015. This is our second visit to Burralea and we are back with the Drummond family this time we get to know Flora and we discover Joe and Hattie who are re-united after the discovery of bones on a property that is owned now by Flora’s brother Seth. I didn’t want to put this one down so make yourself comfortable and enjoy.
Flora is back home after leaving an abusive partner she is a gifted violinist and is practising for a new position she is staying in town and lying low so to speak but when she is asked to play in a quartet for a very good friend’s wedding she is happy to help but this wedding doesn’t go to plan and this is not the first time that this beautiful little church has seen a betrayal of love and Flora is feeling the grooms heartache you see she has had a crush on Mitch Cavello since she was a young girl and Mitch came to stay on the property she grew up on, so here starts a journey that brings a lot of drama into Flora’s life.
Hattie Bellamy spent her younger years in Shanghai with her very English family exploring the markets and lots of other exciting things but with the war getting closer and fear takes over her widowed mother Rose brings Hattie to Australia to be safe and there she meets Joe Matthews they spend a lot of time growing up on Joe’s parents property Kooringal they fall in love and plan to marry but plans get turned around and Joe marries someone else in the little church in Burralea. Hattie loses her mother Rose and a secret is uncovered and moves to England and gets on with her life but many years later she moves to Brisbane and then the discovery of bones on Kooringal bring her back to Burralea and back to Joe.
There are four people who have a lot to go through to get to their HEA’s and their stories are so moving, emotional and just so captivating this was a book I was really looking forward to after reading The Grazier’s Wife and wow it really is a beauty of a story one that I can highly recommend, I don’t want to give too much away and I hope that I have done this one justice because it is another keeper, one not to be missed thank you MS Hannay you bought me to tears, you made me smile and it will be a while before I stop thinking about Flora, Mitch, Hattie and Joe and the cast of wonderful characters that made this story so very enjoyable. Don’t miss this one.
5/5 stars for such a fabulous story
Published July 31st 2017 by Penguin Books Australia
