In Thornwood House, Audrey Kepler, is bequeathed a big old homestead in rural Queensland by her ex-boyfriend, the father of her eleven year old daughter. She leaves her Melbourne life and home behind and together with her daughter moves into the homestead - Thornwood House. Audrey then proceeds to unravel various mysteries involving the previous inhabitants of Thornwood House - her daughter's ancestors.
As she delves deeper into the past, Audrey, who could be described as either bloody nosy, or full of passion about her new home and it's old stories and the people who lived there, immerses herself into the lives of her ex's past, solves the various mysteries of his family and even finds love along the way. (Groan - shades of Alex Miller's Journey to the Stone Country... no, no, no, not as bad as that!)
I really, really wanted to love this book...
It's set in the Scenic Rim, the location of our own block of land and soon to be home. I got really excited when I recognised the description of "Magpie Creek", the fictitious town where Audrey and her daughter have come to live, obviously based on our own little town!
"...we entered the wide dusty streets of Magpie Creek. Passing a huge wirework sculpture of a horse we hooked through a roundabout and entered a tree-lined avenue. An elderly couple sat on the verandah of a classic old pub, but otherwise the town appeared deserted. I counted two bottle shops, a BP service station, a Caltex service station, four tiny cafes, and a quaint little post office."
My other connection to this book is the fact that Benj and I actually stumbled upon its launch in the real Magpie Creek one Sunday afternoon after a day working on our block! Author Anna Romer was there at our favourite little cafe signing copies of her debut novel!
...but I didn't love this book. I certainly didn't hate it, but it's just not a book I feel a great deal of passion about. It had the bones of a good story... but the writing style was a little too bland, the plot and it's twists a little too obvious, the love interest a little too cringe-worthy and some of the story lines a little too far fetched.
Having said all that I did enjoy reading Thornwood House. It's an easy read, one you will want to tear through to see if you are right in your assumptions about the "twists" (if you're like me you will be). A good book for a lazy Sunday arvo.
Two stars.
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