A Curious Daughter

 

Thank you Pan Macmillan for my review copy.

I love family sagas and A Curious Daughter is the second book in the Montdidier/Meredith saga, although it can be read, and enjoyed, as a standalone.

Joy Meredith is the daughter of Avril (née Montdidier) and Tim Meredith. A Curious Daughter follows Joy’s life from her eighteenth birthday. Joy has grown up on Monaghan station, a beautiful property which has been owned by the Meredith family, true members of the Australian squattocracy, for generations, in the Darling Downs in southern Queensland. 

Joy has inherited her French mother’s strong, independent nature and her father’s love of the land. This fabulous book takes her from Australia  to England and to the beautiful French vineyard in the Tours region of her mother’s childhood. She approaches each new stage in her life, including her romantic involvements, with honesty and, always, self-awareness. 

The story is set mainly in the 1970s, and the fashions, music and attitudes of that time are vividly represented, as are the vastly differing backdrops of Australia, England and France. Jules Van Mil is a brilliant story teller and this book kept me in its thrall for the whole two days it took me to read it.

I do hope instalment number three of this saga is already being worked on or, at least, contemplated by Jules Van Mil. It was a terrific read and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves to follow a good, strong story line.

Published by Macmillan