Tumbledown Manor

 Tumbledown Manor

Reviewed By  Grasshopper2       September 26, 2014

 

Author  Helen Brown

Distributor:     
ISBN:                 9781743319284
Publisher:         Arena
Release Date:    

   Website:   http://www.allenandunwin.com

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What a satisfying story this is! Laced with humorous lines and very human parenthood blunders, the story relates how Lisa’s life is about to undergo radical changes. Her husband of twenty three years has discovered a soul mate by the name of Belle (or Cow bell) as Lisa calls her. When it seems the marriage is ended, Lisa decides to move back to Australia where she was born.

Leaving her home in New York is quite a wrench but her sister lives in Sydney and will shelter Lisa for a time. Her son and his friends also live in Sydney. It becomes obvious that she can’t stay with Maxine for long, and so Lisa begins to look at sensible housing for a single middle aged woman. It’s all pretty standard until they spy a photo of her grandfather’s home, a large and very run down house in the country. Most unsuitable but of course Lisa falls in love with the house and buys it.

As the story unfolds, the author reminds us of the drama of the rural Australian countryside, and nature’s unpredictability. Many renovations and purchases need to be made, and here Lisa is assisted by her son and a handyman who recommends the Grey army for work. There is Ken “with the mane of white hair and the nose like a turnip  Electrics and Plumbing”-”with a dodgy knee, but he’s pretty good” , and there’s Doug a carpenter with emphysema, and Ron who is fine as long as he remembers his heart pills.”

Lisa is an author who is trying to cover her bills by writing a series of books about the Bronte Sisters. She has a deadline to meet which has already been extended, and the interruptions of flood, bushfire and snake bite add to the pressure under which she finds herself. Local characters keep popping into her story making an interesting comparison between old and new.

The many situations that happen here keep the reader interested. The house renovations, family dilemma’s, ex-husband and girlfriend’s appearance, and adjusting to life in rural Australia compared to life in New York, keep us reading. Add to this, a family mystery that has been covered over and is now about to be revealed.

What more could a reader want!

Fiction