The Curlew's Eye
Karen Manton
Reviewed by Helen
This is such a great debut, the setting and descriptions are just awesome, it is said to be a gothic tale and for me there are paranormal elements and secrets from the past in the story that had me turning the pages as Joel his wife Greta and their three sons Toby, Griffin and Raffy travel to The Northern Territory the place Joel grew up to sort things out so the property can be sold, this starts a journey to opening up and finding closure for both Joel and Greta.
Joel and Greta don’t put down roots they go where life takes them and this suits the family so well, they are all happy and contented when they arrive at Joel’s old home, he grew up here with five brothers a sister and his parents life wasn’t easy it was hard at times but he is a quiet man and keeps a lot to himself. When they arrive the boys settle in and are loving it, Joel gets down to working and Greta feels perturbed and troubled at times, walks the land finding things that make her feel that she needs to uncover something and the call of the curlew finds its way into her soul.
She meets a young girl often on the property and things go missing from their shack, there is the poisoned lake the dumped cars everywhere the meat works the hut but she can’t get close to the girl, she wants to, she feels that she knows something and Joel doesn’t seem to want to talk, there are a lot of questions that need answering Greta needed to get to the bottom of it all.
I thoroughly enjoyed this fabulous story so very well written, I was on the edge of my seat so many times throughout waiting to see what was going to happen, I felt very close to this family the love they shared and the life they lived so different from the normal. I loved that Greta never gave up and when Joel opened up you could almost feel the emotion flow and I just knew their next stop in life would have both Greta and Joel leave the past where it should be and move forward to the future for this family. I do highly recommend this one.
My thanks to Allen & Unwin for my copy to read and review
Joel and Greta don’t put down roots they go where life takes them and this suits the family so well, they are all happy and contented when they arrive at Joel’s old home, he grew up here with five brothers a sister and his parents life wasn’t easy it was hard at times but he is a quiet man and keeps a lot to himself. When they arrive the boys settle in and are loving it, Joel gets down to working and Greta feels perturbed and troubled at times, walks the land finding things that make her feel that she needs to uncover something and the call of the curlew finds its way into her soul.
She meets a young girl often on the property and things go missing from their shack, there is the poisoned lake the dumped cars everywhere the meat works the hut but she can’t get close to the girl, she wants to, she feels that she knows something and Joel doesn’t seem to want to talk, there are a lot of questions that need answering Greta needed to get to the bottom of it all.
I thoroughly enjoyed this fabulous story so very well written, I was on the edge of my seat so many times throughout waiting to see what was going to happen, I felt very close to this family the love they shared and the life they lived so different from the normal. I loved that Greta never gave up and when Joel opened up you could almost feel the emotion flow and I just knew their next stop in life would have both Greta and Joel leave the past where it should be and move forward to the future for this family. I do highly recommend this one.
My thanks to Allen & Unwin for my copy to read and review
4 stars
Published September 14th 2021 by Allen & Unwin AU
