A Family of Strangers

 A Family of Strangers

Reviewed By  Grasshopper2       March 28, 2022

 

Author  Fiona Lowe

Distributor:      HarperCollins Publishers Australia
ISBN:                 9781489298690
Publisher:         Harper Collins Publishers Australia/HQ Fiction AU
Release Date:   March 2022  

   Website:   https://www.harpercollins.com.au

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Setting A Family of Strangers in a small town in Tasmania means that author Fiona Lowe is in her element as she has a deep understanding of the mentality and closeness this sort community produces. Her knowledge and experience of people and their relationships is keen and insightful. The beautiful setting at Rookery Cove, in the Northwest of Tasmania, where the surf rolls, is evocative.

The novel begins by exploring three different characters and their families. The introduction of the initial characters helps us to understand their back story. We first meet Addy Topic, who has grown up in the Bay and has no wish to return. A great job is offered close by, and with her parents’ home vacant after their death, makes it sensible to return to advance her career. The Bay holds no happy memories for her.

Steph Gallagher and her husband Henry have been trying to conceive a child. They were living in Melbourne and decided to move to the Bay for a more peaceful and fulfilling lifestyle. They have one toddler, Monty. Now Henry’s daughter Zoe, from a previous marriage, is about to join them.

Brenda Lambeck has been a long-term resident of the area. She was married to a farmer and unhappy for a long time. After her husband’s death she moved to town but she is harbouring a secret held for many years.

Addy begins her job, working long, long hours. Steph finds that the peace and tranquillity she was after are elusive, as Henry has taken to surfing when not working. Brenda needs to come to grips with her secret life. All these stories unravel in the bosom of the choir which they have formed and grown with love and care. Can they all survive the uncompromising truths that will make them all reconsider the decisions they have made about their lives in Rookery Cove. How very quickly the best intentions can come very seriously undone

Fiction