Australian writer Sophie Green has quickly become one of my go to authors. I have already read The Fairvale Ladies Book Club, The Shelly Bay Ladies Swimming Circle, Thursdays at Orange Blossom House, and Weekends with the Sunshine Gardening Society. Green also has a new book just out titled Art Hour at the Duchess Hotel. I will savor that one.
What Green does so well is to simply create stories that I want to sit down and read for a bit of escape. Her characters face challenges but they also learn, grow and even find happiness. That is certainly true in Bellbird River.
Another facet of the novels that I enjoy is that each takes place in a different part of Australia. The country is so vast and varied that these virtual trips offer armchair travelers a real treat.
This story features (as is true in all of the novels) a cast of women characters and those around them. They include Victoria a doyenne in her small town and whose husband recently left her. She is visited by her cousin, Gabrielle, an opera singer with voice issues. Readers also meet Debbie who has been in prison and is trying to regain some happiness, and Janine, who needs to value herself more. Finally there are Alex and her daughter. They are going through some struggles. Will their move to Bellbird River bring them closer together?
The device behind the plot is that all of the women sing in the same group. The joys that music can bring are clear.
I highly recommend this book and all of Green’s other novels to anyone who likes immersive fiction.
NOW JUST $2.99.
Joyce's mystery and fiction book reviews with some non-fiction too! 