Book Review: The Women and the Girls by Laura Bloom

The Women and the Girls 

by

Laura Bloom

 

 

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication date: 19th January 2021 

Genre: Contemporary Fiction  

Pages: 344

RRP: $29.99AUD

Format read: Paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

About the book

 

Three friends. Three marriages left behind. Life begins in earnest.

It's 1977, and warm, bohemian Libby - stay-at-home mother, genius entertainer and gifted cook - is lonely. When she meets Carol, who has recently emigrated from London with her controlling husband and is feeling adrift, and Anna, who loves her career but not her marriage, the women form an unexpected bond.

Their husbands aren't happy about it, and neither are their daughters.

Set against a backdrop of inner-city grunge and 70s glamour, far-out parties and ABBA songs, The Women and The Girls is a funny, questioning and moving novel about love, friendship, work, family, and freedom.

 

My review

 

The Women and the Girls was everything it promised to be; A funny, probing and moving novel filled with the music, clothes, hair and food of the time, encapsulating everything that made the 70’s unforgettable. A truly nostalgic trip for those of an age to remember the era.
 

Three women all at a cross-roads in their lives, unhappy in their marriages for varying reasons come together to support each other when each decide to leave their husbands on the same night.
 

The Women and the Girls is not only a story about marriage and the importance of female friendships it also highlights the constraints on women during the 70’s and reveals it as a time of great social change for women and a step closer to equality.
 

Laura Bloom has created three very different women from different backgrounds and thrown them together by the fact that their daughters are in the same class at school. To begin with the women don’t even like each other. 

I loved how Bloom threw these women together into one house and left them to work through their differences. Add in one conniving husband bent on destroying the friendship and four tweenage girls, and lets see how the women deal with this.
 

Libby, Carol and Anna were strong women for their time. A time when women were just learning to be assertive and most could only dream of leaving a troubled marriage. I know this was meant to be a lighthearted look at women, marriage and the 70’s but I personally think it came across as a little too easy and convenient for the women to leave, having ready accommodation and babysitters.  

 

4½ / 5  ⭐⭐⭐⭐½

 

About the author

 

Photo: Goodreads

 Laura Bloom is the author of eight critically acclaimed novels for adults and children, including The Cleanskin, which was described in The Australian as 'a masterpiece of drama and characterisation'. Her novels have been shortlisted for many awards, including the NSW Premier's Awards. Laura is also an award-winning screenwriter, and many of her novels have been optioned for film and TV. She is based in the Northern Rivers region of NSW.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenges entered: Australian Women Writers challenge #AWW2021

and Aussie Author Challenge #AussieAuthor21

 

Other books I've reviewed by Laura Bloom

 

 

Book Review: An Unusual Boy by Fiona Higgins

 An Unusual Boy

by

Fiona Higgins

An extraordinary boy. The mother who loves him. The fight of their lives.

 

 

Publisher: Boldwood Books

Publication date: 20th October 2020

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 391

RRP: $5.69AUD (Kindle)

Format read: eBook

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley

About the book

Julia Curtis is a busy mother of three, with a husband often away for work, an ever-present mother-in-law, a career, and a house that needs doing up. Her fourteen-year-old daughter, Milla, has fallen in love for the first time, and her youngest, Ruby, is a nine-year-old fashionista who can out-negotiate anyone.

But Julia’s eleven-year-old son, Jackson, is different. Different to his sisters. Different to his classmates. In fact, Jackson is different from everyone. And bringing up a child who is different isn’t always easy.

Then, one Monday morning, Jackson follows his new friend Digby into the school toilets. What happens inside changes everything; not only for Jackson, but for every member of his family. Julia faces the fight of her life to save her unusual boy from a world set up for ‘normal’.

 

My review

 

An Unusual Boy is a heart-wrenching  story about a family struggling to keep from falling apart.

Julia is trying to run her family of five single handedly since her husband is overseas with work a large amount of the time. This can be stressful on a marriage at the best of times without the added burden of a child with a neurological problem.

I have to admit I was scared to read this book but I was also scared not to read it. We have our own unusual boy and although he is only four I worry about the life that is ahead of him. I could totally empathise with the Curtis family and the long road they have already travelled to get Jackson to the age of eleven. It was easy for me to imagine the years of doctors appointments, tests of all sorts and endless speech therapy.

So many reviewers stated that they fell in love with Jackson however in reality how many people can even tolerate someone else's child running circles around the table at a cafe or hitting out because the words won't come.

"Other parents have been less forgiving, including at Jackson's old school where we were progressively shunned by parents variously irritated or disturbed by Jackson's unusual behavior."

I read this book in one day and I cried from beginning to end. The tears are welling as I write this review.

An Unusual Boy is a book everyone should read. Mothers will resonate with Julia and her busy life, her constant tired state and always wondering if she is getting it right. 

Mother-in-Laws often get a bad rap in books so I was pleased to see Pamela step in and help out and for Julia to see her MIL in a new light. 

I loved Miss Marion and I think it takes someone very special to see something more to a child than their hyperactivity and to take it and turn it into a skill. That's the magic that some teachers possess! Every child has something special inside them.

An Unusual Boy is a story about acceptance, inclusion, diversity and not judging.

5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

About the author

Fiona Higgins is the Australian writer of several bestselling contemporary novels including The Mothers' Group and Wife on the Run. Her work has been widely reviewed, translated internationally, and described as 'page-turning domestic melodrama for the social media age.' She lives with her family in Sydney.

Challenges entered: Aussie author challenge  #AussieAuthor20

                                 Australian Women Writers Challenge #AWW2020

 

 

 

 

Book Review: The Good Teacher by Petronella McGovern

The Good Teacher

by

Petronella McGovern

Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Publication date: 1st September 2020

Genre: Contemporary Fiction

Pages: 416

RRP: $29.99AUD

Format read: Paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

 

About the book

 

Every evening, Allison watches her husband's new house, desperate to find some answers. Every morning, she puts on a brave face to teach kindergarten. She's a good teacher, everyone says so - this stalking is just a tiny crack in her usual self-control.

A late enrolment into her class brings little Gracie - sick and grieving. Allison takes the girl and her father, Luke, under her wing. She smothers Gracie with the love she can't give her own son. As others question her judgement and the police arrive at her door, Allison starts to wonder if she can trust herself.

When Gracie has a chance to go to America for treatment, Allison leads the school in a fundraising drive. But has she crossed a line?

How far will the good teacher go to save a life? And whose life will that be?

An intriguing tale of our times about kindness and betrayal, and the danger of good deeds.

 

My Review

 

Petronella McGovern has delivered again in her second offering in the domestic fiction genre.

Allison Walsh is The Good Teacher always going above and beyond for her students and their families, but now her husband has left her, and her 15 year old son Felix with him, for another woman and she is reduced to stalking his house to get a glimpse of the woman who stole her family.

It's a new school year and Luke and his 5 year old daughter Gracie have moved to Sydney to be treated at the children's hospital for Gracie's rare form of cancer. Allison invites Luke and Gracie to stay with her while they save for a life saving trip to America. Allison's invitation isn't wholly selfless as she pours all her energy into raising money for Gracie's trip is she using Luke and Gracie to replace the family she lost?

"Allison had realised that family didn't have to be narrowed down to Tony and Felix, it could be expanded to include whomever she wanted."

McGovern has highlighted the wonderful giving nature of people who will go out of their way to help others. Luke and Gracie are welcomed into the community with open arms.

Told in multiple points of view, each character has their own agenda around helping Gracie.

I like the short chapters on Felix's point of view and how the themes of Felix's school text, Othello, tie into events happening in his real life.

As with McGovern's previous novel, there is so much happening and it's all pertinent so I can't say too much without spoilers. There are plenty of red herrings and twists along the way. The Good Teacher induced a roller coaster of emotions; empathy, pride, sorrow, anger, satisfaction and joy.

Following on from  her success with Six Minutes Petronella McGovern has now, with her release of The Good Teacher placed herself firmly as the Queen of Australian domestic fiction.

About the author

 

Photo: Goodreads

Petronella McGovern is a writer and editor who grew up on a farm outside Bathurst, New South Wales. After working in Canberra for a number of years, she now lives on Sydney's northern beaches with her husband and two children. Her best-selling novel, Six Minutes, was published in 2019 and long-listed for the Australian Independent Bookseller Awards.

The Good Teacher is her second novel.

 

  

 

Click on cover to see review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Challenges entered: Aussie author challenge  #AussieAuthor20

                                 Australian Women Writers Challenge #AWW2020

 

 

 

Book Review: Wasp Season by Jennifer Scoullar

Wasp Season

by

Jennifer Scoullar

Publisher: Pilyara Press
Publication date:  20th July 2020
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 294
Format read: eBook
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

About the book 

When Beth’s marriage ends, she’s determined to build a new life in the country for herself and her children. A quiet life lived closer to nature. She thinks she’s achieved the impossible – a civilised separation, a happy home and a cordial relationship with her estranged husband, Mark. There's even the promise of new love on the horizon. But when Mark tries to change the rules, Beth’s peaceful world is turned upside down.

Disturbingly, she also discovers that European wasps have invaded her garden. Beth’s obsession with them and their queen holds up a distorted mirror to the human drama. As the chaos in Beth’s life gathers momentum, connections between the two worlds come sharply into focus. The lives of Beth and the others are neither separate to, nor safe from, the natural world.

My review

Jennifer Scoullar's love and reverence of the nature that surrounds us shines through in her writing, making the daily lives of the wasps and other insects fascinating and evocative reading.

Wasp Season is narrated in multiple points of view. Scoullar anthropomorphises the wasps and bees thus invoking sympathy. Naming the insects and giving their POV brings the reader right into their lives and thoughts and gives a perspective I'd never contemplated before.
Fairy wrens, potter wasps, paper wasps, assassin flys, black cockatoos, European wasps, platypus, wombats, wallabies, kookaburras, dragonflies, eastern spinebill, hummingbird, cicadas, spiders; all this beautiful and diverse fauna of Australia is seamlessly spread throughout the story without being one bit contrived.

The humans are just as fascinating as the insects. Mark, a delusional narcissist, separated from wife Beth and now living with girlfriend Lena and their baby son, has a life is always greener on the other side attitude. Bored with his young girlfriend he decides he wants his wife back.

Lena feeling alone and worthless turns to the allure and bright lights of poker machines to get her highs. Predators are lurking to pounce on the weak and unwary.
Beth and her two children have settled into a tranquil life on a property in the mountains. However there is a European Wasp colony developing that will threaten them and the whole surrounding ecosystem.

With themes of the natural balance of the ecosystem, introduced pests, regrets, narcissism, gambling addiction and befriending strangers, Wasp Season is fascinating and emotional. As human lives and insect lives cross over and intertwine Scoullar builds the story to a suspense filled conclusion.

4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

 About the author

 

Photo: Goodreads

Bestselling Aussie author Jennifer Scoullar writes page-turning fiction about the land, people and wildlife that she loves.

Scoullar is a lapsed lawyer who harbours a deep appreciation and respect for the natural world. She lives on a farm in Australia's southern Victorian ranges, and has ridden and bred horses all her life. Her passion for animals and the bush is the inspiration behind her best-selling books.

 

Book Review: I Thought I Knew You by Penny Hancock

I Thought I Knew You

by

Penny Hancock

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Publication date: 12th March 2019

Imprint: Mantle

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Mystery

Pages: 384

RRP: $29.99

Format read: Trade paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher

Jules and Holly have been best friends since university. They tell each other everything – trading revelations and confessions, and sharing both the big moments and the small details of their lives: Holly is the only person who knows about Jules' affair; Jules was there for Holly when her husband died. And their two children – just four years apart – have grown up together.

So when Jules' daughter Saffie accuses Holly's son of a terrible crime, neither woman can possibly be prepared for what this means – for their families or their friendship.
Especially as Holly refuses to believe her son is guilty.

I thought I Knew You is a thought provoking read with a he said, she said premise.

After the death of her husband Holly and her 16 year old son, Saul, move to a small country town to be closer to Holly’s best friend, Jules.

Saul is all dark hair, black clothes and sullen. He is finding it hard to cope with his father’s death 6 years ago. He is not making friends at his new High School and Jules’ 13 year old daughter, Saffie, wants nothing to do with him.

Holly had a secret she was keeping for Jules from her husband but she didn’t know Jules was also keeping a secret from her. Two friends that knew everything about each other, or thought they did. Inseparable since Uni nothing could tear their friendship apart. Until Jules’ daughter makes a serious accusation against Holly’s son.

Jules confronts Holly but Holly doesn’t believe Saul could possibly do this and Jules can’t believe that her daughter would lie.

As more people find out what has happened the situation blows out of control through gossip, conjecture and judgement. Tempers are flared, someone goes missing and people are threatened.

This book is one of those mysteries that you can’t put down. The pages fly by so quickly as the mystery ramps up and the plot thickens. The characters begin asking themselves how well do they really know their best friend, son, daughter or even their husband.

Penny Hancock has used two different narrative styles. Holly’s point of view is in first person whilst Jules’ is in third person. I felt more connected to Holly and more sympathy for her through her first person perspective.

Throughout the book my allegiances were jumping back and forward as tempers flare and accusations are flying.

Penny Hancock includes themes of consent, mother guilt, anger management, loss of a parent and not fitting in.

I Thought I Knew You is a compelling mystery that will have you glued to the book until the very last page.

 My rating 5/5              ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Photo credit : Goodreads

 
Penny Hancock is the author of Tideline, a Richard & Judy bookclub pick, The Darkening Hour and A Trick of the Mind. She works as at Anglia Ruskin University, supporting students with their writing, and lives in Cambridge. She is married with three children.

Book Review: Six Minutes by Petronella McGovern

Six Minutes

by

Petronella McGovern

Publisher: Allen & Unwin 
Publication date: 1st July 2019
Genre: Msytery / Thriller
Pages: 432
RRP: $29.99AUD
Format read: Paperback 
Source: Won

One Thursday morning, Lexie Parker dashes to the shop for biscuits, leaving Bella in the safe care of the other mums in the playgroup.

Six minutes later, Bella is gone.

Police and media descend on the tiny village of Merrigang on the edge of Canberra. Locals unite to search the dense bushland. But as the investigation continues, relationships start to fracture, online hate messages target Lexie, and the community is engulfed by fear.

Is Bella's disappearance connected to the angry protests at Parliament House? What secrets are the parents hiding? And why does a local teacher keep a photo of Bella in his lounge-room?

Petronella McGovern’s debut novel Six Minutes is a cleverly plotted mystery. On the cover of my ARC it says “impossible to put down” and how true that was!

Lexie has separation anxiety, she won’t let three year old Bella out of her sight. Knowing that she needs to relax and let go a little she leaves Bella with the other playgroup mums and ducks to the shop to buy morning tea. When she returns, only six minutes later, Bella is gone and nobody saw her leave.

Petronella McGovern’s description of a playgroup’s atmosphere is well depicted. A group of mothers supporting each other, telling each other everything but still holding back their inner fears, their true selves.

Told through multiple points of view the main mystery is of Bella’s disappearance but as more people are questioned it looks like everyone has something to hide and not everyone is telling the truth.

I had a long list of suspects and as I read further, instead of crossing off names, I found myself adding more.

There is lots of finger pointing and most of it is at Lexie and her husband. McGovern shows through blog and Facebook posts that you can never escape the trolls and old hurts resurface to haunt Lexie and Marty. The strain on their relationship is realistically portrayed with both being careful not to lay blame when doubts set in.

Six Minutes is a compelling modern day domestic thriller.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Petronella McGovern grew up in a large family on a farm in New South Wales, Australia. Farmland and the bush feature strongly in her debut psychological thriller, Six Minutes. She has co-written two non-fiction books - a travelogue of the 1960s, For Love and a Beetle with Ivan Hodge; and an Olympic memoir, Trailblazers: Australia's First Olympic Equestrians with Wyatt Thompson.  

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

and Australian Women Writers challenge 

Book Review: Murmurations by Carol Lefevre

Murmurations

by

Carol Lefevre

Publisher: Spinifex Press 
Publication date: 1st April 2020
Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Short stories
RRP: $19.96 AUD
Pages: 112
Format read: Paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via R M Marketing Services 

Lives merge and diverge; they soar and plunge, or come to rest in impenetrable silence. Erris Cleary’s absence haunts the pages of this exquisite novella, a woman who complicates other lives yet confers unexpected blessings. Fly far, be free, urges Erris. Who can know why she smashes mirrors? Who can say why she does not heed her own advice?

Among the sudden shifts and swings something hidden must be uncovered, something dark and rotten, even evil, which has masqueraded as normality. In the end it will be a writer’s task to reclaim Erris, to bear witness, to sound in fiction the one true note that will crack the silence.

Occasionally you will find a gem of a book that will give you cause to stop and think. Murmurations is that book!

I loved this little book of stories and once I had finished I read it all over again. I needed to capture those little details that can be missed in a first reading.

Characters ebb and flow through each story, their lives moving and flowing in formation, unknowingly lead by Erris.

There is the receptionist, Erris’s close friends, the landscaper, the writer, the cleaner, all touched by Erris and her cry for help. The question that runs through the readers mind is; ‘Was Erris mentally unstable or was something more sinister at play here?’

Each story reflects on a significant moment in that character’s life. Moments of revelation and despair, when their life was altered forever.

Carol Lefevre’s prose are lyrical, insightful and heartbreaking. Although coming in at only 112 pages it packs an emotional punch.

Murmurations is one of the best novellas I have read!

My rating  5/5      ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

Photo credit: Spinifex Press

Carol Lefevre holds both a M.A. and a Ph.D in Creative Writing from the University of Adelaide, where she is a Visiting Research Fellow. Her first novel Nights in the Asylum (2007)  was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writers Prize and won the Nita B. Kibble award. As well as her non-fiction book Quiet City: Walking in West Terrace Cemetery (2016), Carol has published short fiction, journalism, and personal essays. She was the recipient of the 2016 Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship, and is an affiliate member of the J.M.Coetzee Centre for Creative Practice, where she was writer in residence in 2017. Her most recent novel, The Happiness Glass, published by Spinifex Press in 2018. Carol lives in Adelaide. 






This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

and Australian Women Writers challenge

 

 

Book Review: The Gilded Cage by Camilla Lackberg

The Gilded Cage

by

Camilla Lackberg

Translated from Swedish by Neil Smith

Publisher: Harper Collins Australia

Publication date: 23^rd March 2020

Genre: Crime / Thriller

Pages: 352

RRP: $35.00 AUD

Format read: uncorrected proof paperback

Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Better Reading

 

People would kill to have Faye von Essen’s life. She lives in an ultra-swanky apartment in the most exclusive area of Stockholm, she has a gorgeous husband who gives her everything she’s ever wanted, and she has an adorable daughter who lights up her world. Faye’s life is perfect.

So how is it, then, that she now finds herself in a police station?

The truth is that Faye’s life is far from what it seems. The truth is that Faye isn’t even her real name. And now she’s been caught out. There’s no way she’s going to go down without a fight. The only question is – who will escape with their life?

 

Reading the Gilded Cage for me was much like coming across a train wreck. There was carnage everywhere and you don’t want to look but you just can’t stop reading.

The main character, Faye, had no redeeming qualities and even though the author revealed Faye’s troubled upbringing and over-bearing husband, it did nothing to endear me to her. She did too many horrendous things to ever be likeable.

The trope is a well used one; a tale of subservience, misogyny, betrayal, obsession and revenge.

The husband, of course, is a total low-life. We are not meant to have any feelings towards him except for maybe deep animosity. However there was one thing he was meant to have done, although predictable in a plot sense, was too unbelievable.

The big twist at the end was predicted half way through the story.

Even though the story included a host of unlikable characters (except best friend Chris) and the plot line was predictable, the story pulled me in and I couldn’t let go until the end.

Content: over use of coarse language & explicit sex scenes.

🌟🌟🌟

My rating  3/5

Camilla Lackberg is a worldwide bestseller renowned for her brilliant contemporary psychological thrillers. her novels have sold over 24.5 million copies in 43 countries with translations into 37 languages.

 

Book Review: Last Bridge Before Home by Lily Malone

Last Bridge Before Home

by

Lily Malone

Publisher: Harper Collins Harlequin Australia 
Imprint: Mira
Series: Chalk Hill #3
Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Romantic Suspense
Publication date: 16th December 2019
Pages: 384
RRP: $29.99 AU
Format read: Trade paperback
Source: Courtesy of the publisher

For Jaydah Tully, the country town of Chalk Hill has never felt like home. Home is a place to feel loved. Home is a place to feel safe. Jaydah's home life is dark in ways the close-knit community could never imagine.
Jaydah knows that the man she loves has never understood her need for secrets. Brix is a Honeychurch, she's a Tully - her family are Chalk Hill's black sheep. It's better for everyone if Brix stays away.
But Brix is a one-woman man, and when he returns to his home town to help his brother, the first person he sees is Jaydah. Independent. Private. Proud. When things are good between them they are really really good but all too soon they're back in the old patterns, caught in the same argument: Her father. Her family. Her life that doesn't include him.
Underneath her tough exterior, Jaydah is drowning. She has one chance to change everything. Is she brave enough to take the risk and let Brix in? Or will her father keep them apart forever?

Last bridge before Home is the third book in the Chalk Hill trilogy. Each book focuses on one of the three Honeychurch brothers but read perfectly as stand alone.

Set in the fictional Western Australian rural town of Chalk Hill. A town were everyone knows everyone else’s business but have no idea what really goes on behind closed doors, especially when it involves the reclusive Tully family, the black sheep of the town.

Lily Malone has written a heart-breaking end to her Chalk Hill series. Braxton (Brix) has always been in love with Jaydah but she won’t commit to a long term relationship. Jaydah has a dark secret that she can never reveal but can she open up to Brix to save her family?

Through Jaydah’s family Malone explores domestic abuse and it’s hold on the abused. Another theme throughout the novel is the rights of a person with a mental disability and caring for a person with special needs. The importance of Family Services and the wonderful and extensive work they do for families is also highlighted during the story.

I found Last Bridge Before Home to be quite confronting. The tension was palpable and the characters were real. The Honeychurch family were welcoming and accommodating. Nothing was too much trouble and they were all happy to help Jaydah even though they had problems of their own.

I love the way Malone gave us a family of three sons and showed how a mother’s connection to her sons can be just as warm and deep as with daughters, with all the boys gathering around their mother in her time of need.

The story ends with a bang as we find out Jaydah isn’t the only one holding secrets!

Last Bridge Before Home is heart-breaking, tear inducing and hope imbued.

 

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 My rating  5/5

This review is part of the Book Lover Book Review Aussie author challenge

and book #38 in the Australian Women Writers challenge

 

photo credit: Goodreads

 Lily Malone trained as a journalist and worked in newspapers before becoming editor of Australia's largest wine industry trade publisher. After the birth of her two boys, she discovered writing romantic stories set in Australia's vineyards was much more fun than writing about diseases of grapevines or the latest French clone. Lily is based in Cowaramup, Western Australia.