Windflowers - Hardcover

Mckinley, Tamara

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0750519223 ISBN 13: 9780750519229

Publisher: Magna Large Print Books, 2002

Synopsis

"A gripping read" LANCASHIRE EVENING POST Claire has left behind the harshness of life in the outback for college and a career in Sydney. Estranged from her family, she is about to take up a position at a prestigious veterinary practice when her Great Aunt Aurelia summons her home to Queensland. Claire's relationship with her parents and sister has never been easy, and her mother, Ellie, accepts that a reconciliation with her eldest daughter is long overdue. But to do so will mean she must face her own ghosts and reveal some shameful secrets. She only hopes her family is strong enough to survive the storm...

About this title

About the Author:

Tamara McKinley was born and raised in Australia. Adopted by her grandmother, she was eventually brought to England to finish her education. Tamara McKinley lives on the south coast of England, and writes full-time, but travels back to Australia frequently to visit her eldest son and do research for her books. She is the author of Matilda's Last Waltz and Jacaranda Vines.

From Publishers Weekly:

Claire Pearson is a successful veterinarian in Sydney, Australia, who is called to her family's outback homestead to resolve old family conflicts in this multigenerational drama by McKinley (Jacaranda Vines). Claire has been estranged from her relatives for five years. As her visit unfolds, it becomes clear that she fled to Sydney after a fight with her parents over a mysterious gravestone on the family property. McKinley weaves Claire's story with that of her mother, Ellie, who was abandoned by her mother as a little girl and witnessed her father's death in an outback storm as a young teen; Claire's fiery sister, Leanne, who has always been envious of Claire's looks and easy successes; and Aurelia, the wise old aunt who watches over the family and knows all of its tangled secrets, which she slowly relinquishes as Claire asks more questions about her true parentage. In spite of the melodramatic revelations, the most interesting character here is the Australian landscape itself, the dry, dusty stretches of land dotted with cattle stations every 200 miles, where locals birth horses with their bare hands and everyone knows everyone else. McKinley's human characters are far less captivating, their stories patched together confusingly as the book switches between Ellie's past and Claire's present without adequate transitions or cues. These convolutions, along with thinly drawn characters and predictable revelations, make this an unremarkable effort.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Magna Large Print Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0750519223
• ISBN 13: 9780750519229
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 480