The Banksia House Breakout
James Roxburgh
Reviewed by Helen
What an exciting fabulous debut, this one had me turning the pages as fast as I could without missing a word but not wanting it end I wanted to spend so much more time with these awesome people that James Roxburgh has bought to life, this is a great story one that I do hope you pick up it is well worth reading.
Ruth Morris might be eighty one but she can still fend for herself except that her son Michael decides she can’t anymore after a small fall, she has lost her beloved husband Ray and is missing her best friend Gladys, when Michael makes her sell her house sign the control of her life and money over to him and move into aged care. Ruth is devastated at losing her independence.
Within days she has made friends at the home and has also found out her friend Gladys is dying who is living in Brisbane and she desperately wants to see her before it is too late and say goodbye. When Michael refuses to help her she gets help from Jean and Beryl her new friends, then Beryl, Ruth and Keith the escape artist at the home ends up on a journey from Sydney to Brisbane that is fraught with problems and lots of ups and downs not to mention the police, but there are so many laughs and smiles along the way.
I loved seeing Ruth go from strength to strength on this journey, along with getting to know Beryl so well and what her life was like and then Keith who opened up so much on this trip as well, he became such a different person, the people they meet along the way, backpackers and surfers and the wedding couple added to the story so much the things they did and all of the fun they had, had me cheering them on, but no matter what happened they never gave up on getting to Brisbane. I loved seeing romance bloom, I was smiling very much.
This is a beautifully written story that has lots of emotions, it is heart-warming and so much fun, yes there were tears but it shows that just because you are older it doesn’t mean you can’t be independent and have fun. I loved this story and I do highly recommend it, huge congratulations James Roxburgh on a brilliant debut.
My thanks to the author for my copy to read and review
Ruth Morris might be eighty one but she can still fend for herself except that her son Michael decides she can’t anymore after a small fall, she has lost her beloved husband Ray and is missing her best friend Gladys, when Michael makes her sell her house sign the control of her life and money over to him and move into aged care. Ruth is devastated at losing her independence.
Within days she has made friends at the home and has also found out her friend Gladys is dying who is living in Brisbane and she desperately wants to see her before it is too late and say goodbye. When Michael refuses to help her she gets help from Jean and Beryl her new friends, then Beryl, Ruth and Keith the escape artist at the home ends up on a journey from Sydney to Brisbane that is fraught with problems and lots of ups and downs not to mention the police, but there are so many laughs and smiles along the way.
I loved seeing Ruth go from strength to strength on this journey, along with getting to know Beryl so well and what her life was like and then Keith who opened up so much on this trip as well, he became such a different person, the people they meet along the way, backpackers and surfers and the wedding couple added to the story so much the things they did and all of the fun they had, had me cheering them on, but no matter what happened they never gave up on getting to Brisbane. I loved seeing romance bloom, I was smiling very much.
This is a beautifully written story that has lots of emotions, it is heart-warming and so much fun, yes there were tears but it shows that just because you are older it doesn’t mean you can’t be independent and have fun. I loved this story and I do highly recommend it, huge congratulations James Roxburgh on a brilliant debut.
My thanks to the author for my copy to read and review
5 stars
Published September 15th 2021 by Ventura Press
