Author: Fleur McDonald
ISBN: 978-1-76011-264-6
RRP: $29.99
Fleur McDonald is a talented West Australian author who writes suspenseful page-turners, the ones I’ve read have been set in South Australia which always makes me take a minute to get my bearings. I think I expect them to be WA based because Fleur is and that is totally a me thing, I should know better than to make assumptions like that when I read.
I loved the first book I read by McDonald and always planned to read all of her other books, well she’s quite prolific and my pile is gigantic so I seem to have missed all of the ones in between. Sapphire Falls has certainly cemented my desire to catch-up on the back list though hasn’t helped with where I’ll find the time.
Sapphire Falls is a lot of things but I think the first thing that comes to mind is that it’s a tale of resilience and finding the strength to carry on when it all gets the better of you.
Fiona Forrest is devastated when her beloved husband commits suicide, leaving her a widow and alone to hold onto their dreams for the farm. Charlie lost a mate in a tragic accidental shooting and it is something he obviously couldn’t come back from. Fiona decides that she has to keep the farm going, for Charlie’s memory as much as anything else, she knows it isn’t going to be easy but it is made even more difficult by the impossible to squash rumours that she’s selling up.
Detective Dave Burrows was on holidays when Eddie and Charlie died but he’s asked to take another look at the files a couple of months later because they need to be signed off. Dave discovers that there are anomalies in the investigation reports and decides to take a closer look. The closer he looks, the more things seems slightly off until Dave is convinced there is something more sinister at play here than the tragic accident the shooting was deemed.
Fiona finds herself facing a run of disaster on the farm and with one thing after another going wrong many a person would have given up and moved on. As much as these disaster shake Fiona she is determined to carry on.
Alongside the mysterious farm disasters and the anomalies with the investigation we have a run of assaults in Adelaide. Now it doesn’t take much of a stretch to decide that the disasters on the farm and the deaths of Eddie and Charlie might be related but assaults in Adelaide, how does that tie into the story? These are questions that will keep you guessing right up to the very end.
Fleur McDonald writes an engrossing tale with suspense that is hard to pick and unexpected twists. More than that she writes strong and capable leading ladies who face adversity and stand strong, they exercise their independence and make it through everything that life throws at them. They are surrounded by community that are willing to help them out and they know when to ask for help but they won’t take any they don’t feel they need.
Sapphire Falls had me reading long after I should have closed the book and it took me through a roller coaster of emotions. I couldn’t help but feel for Fiona and all that she had to go through yet she still found the time to be concerned for her friends, both new and old. Her determination to keep the farm just grew stronger the more the rumours refused to be quashed.
Yet again Fleur McDonald has written a page-turner that keeps you thinking about what could be going on while you are stuck in the real world wishing you were reading her book.
Sapphire Falls is book #53 for the Australian Women Writer’s Challenge 2016.
Fleur McDonald loves to hear from her readers and you can find her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Sapphire Falls by Fleur McDonald is published by Allen & Unwin and available now from Angus & Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia, iBooks, Kindle and where all good books are sold.
Thanks to Allen & Unwin we have FOUR copies of Sapphire Falls to giveaway to our readers. For your chance to win please tell us in the comments below about the hardest rumour you have ever had to quash.
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I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!
the rumour went around that my husband had cancer in the bowels, and that there was no hope for him and he would be dead in a few weeks. Now as we were packing up in n.s.w. to return to w.a. , and have eventually done so, dont know how this one got started. But believe it or not, when we got to w.a. the dr. he went to confirmed this, and he was rushed in for an operation…. and is still going strong. He keeps breaking out with skin cancers, but whether this means a small tiddly bit was missed…. I dont know… anyway fortunately is all well with stomach cancer…..but how whoever started the rumour knew, I would love to know……..He goes in every two years and has tests done.. I have mine checked as well… just had a face cancer removed by surgery….. (rumours can literally destroy people)
When I was working in a job many years ago I got along really well with a guy who became a great friend . Everyone was saying we were “together” but we really weren’t but people keep persisting with rumours that we were together outside of work and no one would believe us that we truly were just friends and nothing ever happened between us (not even a kiss). Once the rumour mill starts it is sometimes too hard to change people’s minds. Eventually he left to go overseas and only then did people stop going on with the rumours but it took a while .
Not a rumour but the hardest news I have had to endure was being told at our scan that our first born bub was no longer alive at 4 months gestation. Even though it happened 13 years ago, my heart still aches for the ‘what if’s’. You never really heal from such a heart ache.
That I had cheated on a test at school. It was all because of a jealous classmate, but it was hurtful and embarrassing and changed my outlook on trust.
My mother was told she had Hepatitis A and we had to change her diet and everybody else’s in the family. We were later told by the same doctor that this was a misdiagnosis.
rumours can cause a lot of heartache, particularly if it is applied to a partner, and someone is told that he or she is off with some one else as well… people do not realise that they should really thi nk about a lot of words before they start a rumour.
There was a rumour going around the work place that I was stuck up. Being shy and an introvert is hard enough without everyone being offside too.
Hardest rumour for me was being accused of stealing from the place I worked at I was mortified but with the help of true friends eventually uncovered the real culprit “my friend” but I quit as I could never feel comfortable there anymore
A woman I worked with who was considered a friend before this- spread a rumour that I was cheating on my husband with a guy who used to come into the bakery where I worked we talked briefly over the counter on a weekly basis always football related and just stirred each other about our teams… he had a girlfriend and was devistated when he heard it nobody could believe a sweet little lady would be so viscious
When I started my last job, the rumour mill worked overtime saying I only got the job because I was best friends with the Supervisor. I had met the woman briefly twice in the previous 5 years while she was selling raffle tickets for the local Primary School. We both lived in the same small town 35 KMs away. Eventually my fellow work collegues realised the truth,