Sandie Docker
Reviewed by Helen
What can I say? Except you have to read this book, MS Docker has written a story that has everything to keep you turning the pages, it is beautifully written, it is moving and so very emotional, there are secrets and lies that maybe after sixty years it is time to let them out, open up, but what will these secrets do to people and their hearts and lives, truly pick this one up and clear the diary till it is finished and keep some tissues at the ready.
Laura is an investigative journalist and has just buried her grandmother Lillian, Laura was bought up by her grandmother and they have always been very close there is her governess Mrs. Duncan who is in a nursing home now and Laura has a mother by they are not close at all. Laura has been given a photo of her grandmother when she was a young teenager with another young girl the sisters of summer is written on the back with Lily and Gigi, this has Laura hunting through old photos and there seems to be a big gap during her teenage years and Laura decides to take a trip to this town of Banksia Beach and try and learn the truth.
Laura is picked up in a very colourful bus and taken to her holiday rental, she tells everyone that she is there researching travel stories, but when Yvonne the driver of the bus sees a resemblance to someone from her past and then Virginia who runs the café at The Beach Shack sees that resemblance as well, there are a few ripples running through a couple of locals, Laura is feeling that there are people who are keeping a lot of secrets as she starts her investigation into her grandmother’s past.
Laura soon becomes close to some of the people living here especially Virginia’s grandson Heath and while she keeps what she is looking for a secret the bond between her and Heath grows and Virginia and Yvonne are getting more worried about what Laura is really there looking for.
I loved this books so very much, truly the characters are wonderful and so easy to love (well most of them) I felt their pain and their hurts and their joy and happiness as this story journeys between 1961 and present times, and we discover what happened back in the summer of 1964-1965. I cannot highly recommend this book enough, truly so many feelings and emotions I loved it, thank you MS Docker for another keeper and what a fabulous title and cover, the best.
Thanks you Penguin Books AU for a review copy.
5 stars
Published
March 17th 2020
by Penguin Books
