The Midnight Estate by Kelly Rimmer

 

The Midnight Estate is Kelly Rimmer’s latest thoughtful, powerful, straight-to-the-heart novel. When Fiona, a successful Sydney architect, suddenly finds her world turned upside down, she decides to move back into the home where she was born and raised. Wurrimbirra is a huge old mansion on a property outside of Forbes, a town in the central west of New South Wales.

While cleaning out the old house in an attempt to make it liveable again Fiona finds a book, written by her late, beloved uncle Tad, an internationally successful author who had shared Fiona’s upbringing with her mother, Ginny. Fiona becomes engrossed in the book which is set just one generation ago.

Kelly Rimmer digs deep into the thoughts and feelings of her characters and how they relate to events in their lives. Here she returns to domestic violence, specifically coercive control, a much watered down form of which is these days being called ‘gaslighting’, referencing the old Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer movie, Gaslight. Physical or psychological, it is still domestic violence and can still lead to disastrous consequences. I live near Forbes, and a recent horrific tragedy there highlighted not only domestic violence but also our criminally inadequate bail laws. It is a crime which is at last being acknowledged but that acknowledgment still has a long way to go.

This compulsively readable book contains danger, suspense, tragedy, but also love and hopefulness. It is a story within a story and as such explains the past much more convincingly than face to face conversations ever could have.

And animals (in this case, cats) always make a good story perfect, of course.

Published by Hachette Australia 

One Small Mistake by Dandy Smith

This book is a stunner! When the book opens. Elodie Fray is a young woman who has given up her successful career in marketing, is working shifts in a cafe and living in low rent digs in order to concentrate on trying to get her first novel published. 

Without even fully realising it, Elodie tells a lie, the repercussions from which spread and grow out of her control. When she turns to Jack, her oldest and dearest friend, Jack comes up with a plan to get her out of the mess she has gotten herself into. Elodie agrees to go along with Jack’s plan, completely unaware that she is about to get into a hugely bigger mess, of danger and terror she couldn’t have imagined. This is absolutely heart stopping stuff that kept me up all night.

While Elodie is telling her story, her sister Ada tells hers, in every alternating chapter. The two sisters have been virtually estranged, but Elodie is missing, and while Ada is torturing herself with fears of what might have happened to Elodie, she examines the relationship between the two of them and how her life has reached its present state. Ada’s chapters are all letters she is writing to Elodie, in the hope that Elodie will get to read them. Dandy Smith’s writing of this is nothing short of brilliant.

While not wanting to give too much away, I hope I’ve given away enough to encourage lots of people to read this terrific book. Thank you NetGalley for my ARC.

Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.

A Mother’s Confession by Kelly Rimmer

 

Of all of Kelly Rimmer’s books I have read, A Mother’s Confession has been the most powerful.

I usually think I know which way a book is going and I can guess how it is going to end. This one, however, has a built in mystery right from the start. The story is being told in present time, in alternating chapters, by Olivia and her mother-in-law, Ivy.  Kelly’s psychological analysis of Ivy is masterful. Olivia is married to Ivy’s son, David, and she and Ivy tell their separate stories of how their lives have reached the point they have come to now.

Because a version of the ending is revealed at the start of the book, it can only be read with a feeling of mounting dread but it is impossible to put the book down until the full story is revealed. Okay, I was quite able to continue with that, until towards the end the goose bumps started creeping up my spine, followed by actual shivering and finally unstoppable tears. Kelly Rimmer is a literary genius. She has knowledge, compassion and insight into the human condition and is able to express it all in her writing.

The worst aspect of domestic violence is the hold, like an invisible chain, the perpetrator has on the victim which outsiders are unable to understand, or, in many cases, break. I’ve only been an outsider looking in to someone’s suffering from mental, not physical abuse but just as seemingly inescapable.

Just brilliant, Kelly.

Published by Bookouture.

Die By The Sword by Tony Park

 

Die By The Sword, Tony Park’s twenty-third novel, is a sweeping, dual timeline story, from the battle fields of the Anglo-Zulu war, to present day KwaZulu-Natal. It’s an absolutely ripping yarn, with masses of fast moving action, historical facts, a touch of romance and, as always, a strong emphasis on the importance of animal conservation.

1880: Former Captain Peter Gregory of the British Army, second son of an aristocratic British family and veteran of the ferocious battle of Isandlwana, Zululand the previous year is attempting without much success to farm in the Natal Midlands, and working as a member of the Natal Mounted Police. Peter has been ordered to escort an American woman to meet up with the Empress Eugenie who is travelling to the memorial site where her son, the Prince Imperial of France, lost his life fighting with the British army in the Anglo-Zulu war. Peter is also tasked with tracking down the sword the prince carried into battle, which had belonged to his great-uncle, Napoleon Bonaparte.

The present day: Adam, who is now Professor Kruger, is working with two of his young students, researching sea turtles at the beach at Bhanga Nek. Adam’s partner, Lieutenant Colonel Sannie van Rensburg, is in the KZN hinterland, having taken temporary charge of the Hawks’ Stock Theft and Endangered Species unit. Sannie and Warrant Officer Marilyn Msani are investigating a case of cattle theft as well as the alleged slaughter of sixteen rhinos.

Adam and his students make an astonishing find which  leads them into dangerous territory; meanwhile, Sannie and Marilyn become involved in their own dangerous discoveries. On the personal side, Sannie is starting to wonder if her relationship with Adam is going to survive his single minded devotion to his new career.

Someone once remarked to me that Tony writes in the style of James A Michener, in equal parts informative and entertaining. I couldn’t have put it better myself. Thank you Pan Macmillan, for my ARC.

The Stranger at the Table by Cassie Hamer

 

 I’m on a roll! I keep discovering brilliant Australian women writers, and here is another: Cassie Hamer. The Stranger at the Table is completely different to any other book I’ve read in a long time. It is a sensitive, insightful exploration into the lives of a family and how they are affected by the withholding of secrets. There’s a fine line between hurting someone “for your own good” and self preservation.

My children are way into adulthood but whenever I read about  parents’ actions causing unintentional consequences for following generations I think: (a) I wish I could go back and be a perfect mother; or (b) I’ve dodged several bullets there! 

Marianne, the main character in Stranger at the Table, is trying to integrate back into a stable life with her husband and her two precious daughters. She has had to be brave and strong and to trust and rely on the love and support of her husband, mother and sister; however, nothing is as it seems in this absolutely riveting story, and there are many twists and turns to come.

I’ve been deliberately obscure in this precis, but if there is anyone out there who hasn’t already read The Stranger at the Table, this is an attempt to whet your appetite without giving anything away and thereby ruining the absolute pleasure of getting stuck into an unforgettable book. If you are a fan of Liane Moriarty, Cassie Hamer is your woman!

Published by Harper Collins

A Shadow at the Door by Jo Dixon

 

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I bought A Shadow at the Door because I enjoyed The House of Now and Then so much. This one is a lot more dramatic, so much so that in the beginning I was starting to think the negativity was a bit overdone; however, balance was restored quickly and a splendidly compulsive story was underway.

The main character, Remi, is a former television star who, having divorced her wealthy and powerful husband and while recovering from a vicious physical attack, has undertaken to restore her once beautiful old Hobart home. A series of damaging events, including an online campaign to damage Remi’s income from her audiobook reading job, has eaten into her finances; and meanwhile, Remi’s ex, Simon, has a mortgage over his half of the property which formerly had been in their joint names, and he has started threatening Remi with foreclosure if she is late making payments. 

Reluctantly, Remi decides to rent out two of her rooms and so she meets Josephine and Emerson who become principal players; from this point on as the story progresses the suspense, the tension, the final build up are all riveting.

Tasmania is featuring a lot in books and movies lately, and Australia keeps producing world class writers. I’m now looking forward to Jo Dixon’s third book.

Published by Harper Collins 

The House of Now and Then

 

This is a dual time/dual plot line book. Tom has arrived in Australia from England in 2017 on a mission to deliver a sealed package he found in his deceased father’s belongings to a lady named Pippa, with whom his father obviously had a connection in 1986, in Sandy Bay, Tasmania. Meanwhile, Olivia has retreated from Sydney to Sandy Bay, trying to escape her shameful past and a vengeful enemy; Olivia is staying in a house owned by Eloise, the same house where Pippa had been staying in 1986. 

This clever book never becomes convoluted, despite its myriad characters, times and stories. It has mystery, intrigue, romance, and the good and bad aspects of the internet and especially social media. I even identified in a self-absorbed way with one part of the story, having also been found unconscious on a dark country road one night long ago, after coming off the back of the obligatory (in those days) motor scooter. Quite took me back to my misspent youth!

I’m sure a lot of people have read The House of Now and Then since it was first published but I discovered it just this week  on the Parkes Library Borrow Box. I recommend it highly to those who haven’t yet read it and who love to get their teeth into a good, twisty, vibrant piece of story telling.

Published by Harper Collins