From Goodreads: “A tale of longing, loss and growing love under the bright Australian sun. It’s 1921 and the Great War has left in its wake untold tragedy, not only in lives lost, but in the guilt of survivors, the deep-set scars of old wounds and the sting of redoubled bigotries.
In the tiny hamlet of Sunshine, on the far-flung desert’s edge, three very different ex-servicemen – Jack Bell, an Aboriginal horseman; Snow McGlynn, a laconic, curmudgeonly farmer; and Art Lovelee, an eccentric engineer – find themselves sharing a finger of farmland along the Darling River, and not much else. That is, until Art’s wife Grace, a battle-hardened nurse, gets to work on them all with her no-nonsense wisdom.
Told with Kim Kelly’s inimitable wit and warmth, Sunshine is a very Australian tale of home, hope and healing, of the power of growing life and love, and discovering that we are each other’s greatest gifts.”
My Review
I read this book through The Pigeonhole, a free online book club, reading it with other readers on the web. It was split into 6 parts, called staves, that I read through the nifty Pigeonhole app. I must admit I was first drawn to this book because of the stunning cover, how could you not what to read a book with a cover full of sunshine?
This was a wonderful historical fiction novel written by a ‘new to me’ author, about a period in Australian history that I’d never read about before.
As the synopsis above tells you it’s set in post World War One Australia, and is about three characters called Jack, Snow and Grace. The writing instantly transported me to Sunshine, a fictional town, but described so perfectly that it was real to me. I instantly warmed to Jack and Grace but found Snow quite scary.
All three characters had taken part in the Great War, Jack and Snow both fighting and Grace was a nurse on the Western Front. As they settle in Sunshine they are coming to terms with what they saw and experienced in the conflict and are struggling to live with those experiences.
Even though this was a short book, just over 200 pages, there was so much emotion and real depth to the characters that I felt like I got to know them very well. The writing was so beautiful that at times I felt like crying especially as I learnt more about Jack, Snow and Grace’s heartbreaking situations.
I definitely recommend this wonderful book to lovers of historical fiction.
Sounds wonderful. I love the sound of this. Fab review x
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Thanks it was a lovely book 🙂
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Excellent review, Nicki!
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Thanks 🙂
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Lovely review, Nicki! I think I’d enjoy this too! Off to add it!
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Thanks I definitely think you’d enjoy it 🙂
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I love the cover and I will check this book out
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It’s gorgeous isn’t it!
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My RL bookclub loves reading HF especially if they think it will be a movie. So this is one for us to check out
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Hope you do 🙂
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lovely review! Will keep an eye out for this book on my travels!!
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Thanks 🙂
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Ahhh this book sounds wonderful!! Terrific review Nicki!
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Thanks it was wonderful 🙂
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I love the sound of this one! Fab review.
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Thanks I think you’d enjoy it!
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I’m very intrigued by this book. So short but good emotion? Sounds good to me.
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It was such a lovely book 😀
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Sounds like a book I would enjoy – I like historical fiction a lot, especially ones with developed characters. Glad I saw this!
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Thanks hope you enjoy it as much as I did 🙂
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I do love the sound of this book! Lovely review 🙂
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Thanks 🙂
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Great review!
I’ve never heard of pigeonhole. I’ll have to check the app out
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Thanks I’ve read so many books via it that I wouldn’t normally read 🙂
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This is a great review! It really sounds like a wonderful story and, yeah, that cover definitely draws me in, too.
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Thanks 🙂
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