The Happiest Little Town
Barbara Hannay
Reviewed by Helen
When I pick up a Barbara Hannay story I know I am going to be welcomed into a story that brings characters to life and that I will be friends with them, that I will be cheering them on and feeling every emotion there is to feel and this one does just that, I loved meeting Olivia, Kate and Tilly and the wonderful characters who live in Burralea on the Atherton Tablelands in far North Queensland, come along and meet them as well.
Thirteen year old Tilly has just lost her Mum and she now finds herself being pulled away from her friends in Cairns to live with someone she has never met, this stranger is now going to be her guardian, can life get any worse for Tilly?
Kate has moved away from the place she has known forever to Burralea where no one knows her because her ex-husband has caused so much pain for her but Kate is determined to make a better life for herself she has bought a van and is doing it up so as she can take off and go where she fancies.
Olivia is an actress but the years are passing and she has lived in Burralea for a long time now and has had many roles with the local theatre group, these days she lives a quiet life having left the lights behind her, but when she has to give up her role in the new play she is not happy at all.
Tilly arrives on Kate’s doorstep and both are uncertain about the future and Tilly has just left everything she knows behind and Kate’s plans are going to have to change. When Tilly is encouraged to join the Burralea amateur theatre group this brings the three of them together and a wonderful friendship grows with each of them opening up about their pasts and looking towards the future. Add in some wonderful local characters a drama just before opening night and people from the past arriving and this makes this a story not to be missed.
I loved this one from start to finish I felt all the emotions that were there, there were happy tears and sad ones but above all else there were lots of smiles and cheers, I do highly recommend this story, many thanks Barbara Hannay for another fabulous story that will stay with me for a long time to come.
My thanks to Penguin Books AU for my copy to read and review.
Thirteen year old Tilly has just lost her Mum and she now finds herself being pulled away from her friends in Cairns to live with someone she has never met, this stranger is now going to be her guardian, can life get any worse for Tilly?
Kate has moved away from the place she has known forever to Burralea where no one knows her because her ex-husband has caused so much pain for her but Kate is determined to make a better life for herself she has bought a van and is doing it up so as she can take off and go where she fancies.
Olivia is an actress but the years are passing and she has lived in Burralea for a long time now and has had many roles with the local theatre group, these days she lives a quiet life having left the lights behind her, but when she has to give up her role in the new play she is not happy at all.
Tilly arrives on Kate’s doorstep and both are uncertain about the future and Tilly has just left everything she knows behind and Kate’s plans are going to have to change. When Tilly is encouraged to join the Burralea amateur theatre group this brings the three of them together and a wonderful friendship grows with each of them opening up about their pasts and looking towards the future. Add in some wonderful local characters a drama just before opening night and people from the past arriving and this makes this a story not to be missed.
I loved this one from start to finish I felt all the emotions that were there, there were happy tears and sad ones but above all else there were lots of smiles and cheers, I do highly recommend this story, many thanks Barbara Hannay for another fabulous story that will stay with me for a long time to come.
My thanks to Penguin Books AU for my copy to read and review.
5 stars
August 2, 2022 by Penguin Random House Australia
