Billings Better Bookstore & Brasserie
by
Fin J Ross
Publisher: Clandestine Press
Publication date: 22nd June 2020
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 278
RRP: $24.99AU (Paperback)
Source: Courtesy of the publisher
My review of Billings Better Bookstore & Brasserie
Fin J Ross is a remarkable wordsmith and Billings Better Bookstore & Brasserie is filled to the brim with eloquent writing and fun alliterative verse.
You don't need to be a true logophile to enjoy Ross's writing as it's written in a light-hearted, fun way. However, if you are a lover of words this is the book for you.
It's very easy to love nine-year-old Fidelia Knight, a small girl with a big vocabulary, she is bright and full of life. Fidelia's father is a lexicographer and the family journeyed from England to Australia where he was to take up a position at Melbourne University. Suddenly orphaned on the long trip to Melbourne, Fidelia is taken to an orphanage. She refuses to believe her father is dead and dreams they will be reunited one day. Fidelia satiates her love of words by hiding in a bookstore and reading all the books she can.
Fidelia changes the lives of everyone she meets with her positive attitude and insight well beyond her years. At the ripe old age of 10 she acquires her dream of becoming a teacher when she is asked to tutor two illiterate women, one being Billings' wife, and two orphaned boys.
Billings Better Bookshop & Brasserie is a delightful read with themes of bettering yourself and believing everyone has a talent, you just need to tap into it.
Set in 1870's Melbourne the area is brought to life through Ross's beguiling descriptions of the streets and buildings visited by her characters.
Each chapter, one for each letter of the alphabet, is headed by an alliterative poem. There is also an appendix of rhymes found in the story and a glossary of all those remarkable words you will be curious to know the meaning of.
Follow Fidelia Knight, a most extraordinary young girl, from the tender age of nine, as she sets out to forge the way for women of the future.
Billings Better Bookstore & Brasserie is a delightfully uplifting story that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.
My rating 5 / 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
About the author
Fin is a journalist and creative writing teacher who runs a boarding cattery in East Gippsland and breeds British Shorthair cats.
She is co-author, with her sister, of the true crime anthologies, Killer in the family and Murder in the Family (not their family). Her first novel AKA Fudgepuddle is the journal/memoir of the oh-so-true adventures of a demanding cat called Megsy.
Fin has won eight category prizes in the annual Scarlet Stiletto Awards for crime and mystery short stories. The competition has been run by Sisters in Crime Australia since 1994.
In her spare time Fin compiles cryptic crosswords.
No comments:
Post a Comment