Author: Harmony Verna
ISBN: 9781760374075
RRP: $29.99
The blurb on the back of this book says:
In a stunning debut novel that evokes the epic scope of Colleen McCullough’s classic The Thorn Birds, Harmony Verna creates a poignant story of forbidden love and unwielding courage, set in Australia and America in the early decades of the twentieth century.
A comparison to The Thorn Birds, that’s some pretty big shoes to fill and some hefty expectations. Daughter of Australia is also a debut, which means no-one has any idea on this author’s work or what to expect.
I read an uncorrected proof copy which arrived on my desk a little while ago and I wanted to start it but I was also eagerly awaiting another epic Australian historical so ended up putting this one off. The decision to feature it as a book club title jumped it straight to the top of the pile, and I’m still itching to get my claws into the other historical; and leaves me wishing I had read it when it first arrived.
Western Australia is the background to much of this epic tale, and epic it really is. Beginning with the heartbreaking abandonment of a young girl by her father in the heat of the West Australian desert just before the turn of the 20th Century I knew that my heartstrings would be getting a workout in this one.
The young girl is discovered under a tree by passing miners, miraculously still breathing but only just. The miners detour from their planned route to get her help, finding a Doctor but no hospital in the nearest town. Trauma has silenced the girl, which doesn’t do her any favours as her physical wounds heal. Unable to discover anything about the foundling she is named after the town she is saved in, Leonora, and sent to an orphanage.
Now, at this point I know that Leonora is our heroine, she is going to be with us until the end. Her saviour though, I expected his part in the narrative to end with his handing her into the arms of the Doctor but that was not to be.
Ghan is a miner who has done it tough, mining wasn’t a safe occupation and Ghan has the scars to prove it. Arms crisscrossed in scar tissue, a leg that drags, a missing ear and a face that has been the brunt of too many fists. He is so caught up in the ugliness of his body that even he doesn’t recognise the beauty of his kind soul. He heads back to his delivery after leaving Leonora with the Doctor but he can’t put her out of his head so he returns at his next opportunity.
Ghan is a hard and dedicated worker, he doesn’t know how not to be working so he finds himself following the work. His injuries create issues for him at times but he always manages to get just enough work to get by and throughout the narrative we pick up with him a couple of times and see what he’s up to.
Leonora is disadvantaged at the orphanage because many of the other orphans see her silence as weakness and use it to make her a victim. James, one of the other orphans, takes her under his wing and slowly they forge a friendship as he fights to protect her; until they are separated. Leonora is adopted by a wealthy American family and James is taken in by relatives who came from Ireland for him.
The story follows both Leonora and James as their lives take them in different directions, and separates them by continents. Neither of them find the life they dreamed of and both are plagued by heartbreak and hardships, though of totally different types.
The characterisation is interesting to say the least. Verna has written a wealth of different character types and they have all been written well. Australia at the turn of the 20th Century was an interesting time in history, with the rise and fall of mining, farming and the relations with the indigenous population. None of the characters are black and white, none are inherently good or inherently evil though there is one that was pretty irredeemable I thought.
From the very first time that we see her we know that Leonora is special, there is a light in her that touches all those around her. She is good, she is huge hearted and she wants to do good with her life but that isn’t always as easy to put into practice and she makes some questionable choices, though we can always see the justification for her choices and they were never lightly made.
I was kept guessing quite well in this one actually. I would think I had it picked, be sure I knew what was going to happen, and then that would be thrown right off the table and I would be left wondering if there would be a happy ever after.
There were some beautiful moments but there was also an awful lot of heartbreak and an emotional rollercoaster of just how bad things could get.
Daughter of Australia has an authenticity that surprised me and a believability I wasn’t sure I would find. Verna masterfully illustrates the massive divide between the wealthy and the poverty stricken and the hidden depths behind every appearance.
Surprisingly emotional and entertaining this is a convincing debut that will definitely have Verna finding fans ready to watch where her career takes her.
Thanks to Harlequin Mira 30 of our Beauty and Lace Club Members will be reading Daughter of Australia so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments.
Daughter of Australia is available now through Harlequin Australia, Angus and Robertson Bookworld, Booktopia and where all good books are sold.
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!
A beautifully told story of courage and despair but ultimately of love, and the unbreakable bonds that keep people going despite all kinds of hardship…
Daughter of Australia, by Harmony Verna, is an epic tale filled with intricately drawn and unforgettable characters as well as powerfully evocative descriptions of early Australia, around the time of WWI. From the isolation of the bush and the loneliness of eeking out a living on the land, to the hardship of working in the mines and the sad tale of the Stolen Generation, this book has it all, and describes it with eloquent poignancy.
But perhaps what touches you most in this book is the human story of Leonora, James and Ghan – their affect on the people around them, their agonies and disappointments, and their grit and determination to struggle on when all appears lost.
I really enjoyed this book and thoroughly recommend. It truly is an excellent Australian saga.
I started reading this book as soon as I received it and I had trouble putting it down. I loved it. The author managed to create such a clear picture in my mind of all the characters, yet just when you thought you knew what was going to happen next, something unexpected would happen. In parts it was hard to read through the tears in my eyes. A thoroughly enjoyable read
Wow, this book packs a punch! From love, to despair, to hope and happiness (not necessarily in that order), this book takes you on a journey that touches and provokes you.
The character development is amazing and you rapidly fall for them, their struggles, decisions and outlook on life. Not normally a book that I would read but boy, am I glad that I have.
I received this book on Friday and by Monday the book has been consumed. Ha, who needs television when you have imagination and story telling like this!
Daughter of Australia is an epic tale that begins in the desolate Western Australian desert. A little girl abandoned under a tree by her father is found by a passing camel train. They detour to take the severely sunburnt child to a nearby town where they think there is a Hospital. There isn’t, and the child is left behind in the care of a doctor and his wife at the local boarding house by the ex-miner Ghan. The child is mute with the trauma of her experiences.
Ghan is an old bushman, scarred and an amputee who lives a hard life but the strange innocence of the child touches a part of him and he cannot forget her. His life is one of hardship but he is a good man.
The story continues with the girl taking the name of Leonora, the town where she recovered and then is relocated to an Orphanage. There is another orphan, James who feels for the little mute girl who is bullied by the other children. They forge a special friendship.
Both children leave the Orphanage, Leonora to an adopted family who return back to their home in America while James chooses to go to live with his only remaining relatives who relocate to Australia to be with him.
We follow the lives of Leonora, James and Ghan. They make decisions that will impact their lives and everyone around them until Leonora and James ultimately reconnect, and the struggle they go through.
Harmony Verna touches on a lot of different subjects, Mining, strikes & riots, the role women take in the early 1900’s, the Stolen Generation and even the Rabbit Proof Fence.
This book was so easy to read and I thought I could see the outcome. I was wrong, there are quite a few twists that as they unravel, you understand why they happen.
There is happiness, sadness and tragedy but don’t expect it to be the usual boy meets girl, boy looses girl, boy gets girl back because if you expect that, you will be disappointed.
For a debut novel, this stands right up there with the great Australian Novels and I will be happy to read future novels by Verna.
WOW, I have just finished Daughter of Australia and what a fabulous, brilliantly written novel.
From viewing the beautiful cover and starting the first chapter, I have not been able to put this book down. I was totally absorbed in reading and not stopping for anything or anyone.
Following the story of Leonora, James and Ghan gives you great memorable characters that will touch your heart from the first chapter. There are many other characters that we also learn about and fall in love with them. Although, there is one character that I despised and after reading about him it’s no wonder.
This book is such a powerful, compelling, memorable, emotional and gorgeous, divine storyline.
Considering this is Harmony’s debut book, I look forward to hopefully reading more of her stories. Harmony, you have completely touched my heart with this book. I am writing this immediately after finishing reading and I am still feeling energised but also emotional. All of the characters are going to stay with me for a while as they were all just so warm and believable.
This book certainly could be made into a movie or 2 part series. I highly recommend anyone to read this book and not feel the enormous passion I am feeling right now.
Thankfully, I had tissues nearby as I used them many times.
Thank you to Beauty and Lace and Harlequin for introducing me to this amazing author who I know, we will see more of in the future and I for one, can’t wait to read more.
I really enjoyed Daughter of Australia, it took me on an emotional ride. A beautiful love story and i could not put it down It kept my interest from the first page to the last.
I just wish i knew why Leonora was left to die by her father? And maybe Ghan could have been given a better life, poor man , he saved leonara and James, yet died alone.
However overall i loved this book and cried at times.. I highly recommend it! Thank you for the chance to read it xx
I was so looking forward to reading this novel! With a comparison to Thorn Birds no less! At the beginning , I found it hard to get into with the short stabbing sentences but after the few initial pages, the author found her flow and did not look back. Exquisitely detailed and the ability to make me sigh with relief or to shed tears she is one to look out for. I am sure she had as much fun creating and writing this story as I did reading it and a story it is. One that pulls the emotions out of you like a good story should. I did expect a few things to happen,none of which did which makes it even more enjoyable. This is what I read for, to be taken on a journey with the characters. Bless you Harmony for writing this book, I hope you are working on another because I will be reading it!
Thanks for allowing me to read Daughter of Australia, this beautifully written by Harmony Verna is spot on with the hardships that are faced in this wonderful country we call home, from the first chapter to the last I was enthralled with this book, Leonora who is left for dead in the bush grew up to become a beautiful kind hearted woman, and James such a kind hearted soul who overcame such a hard life he had with his uncle his aunt was nice, I didn’t like Leonora’s aunt and uncle but there was more to their story near the end of the book, and Ghan a wonderful character a true aussie, just wish Leonora could have seen him before he passed away maybe in spirt she was with Ghan the love between Leonora and James is beautiful and the adopting of the children with disabilities at the end of the book is beautiful, a truely wonderful book
Being a born and bred west australian, this book touched the very core of my existence, so many times I needed a box of tissues… It is so amazingly written that the lady whowrote it must live here in w.a. surely because of the times, the scenes, the interwoven stories, the flies, the dir t, the aborigines, all of it wound into such a long saga, and just t oo hard to put it down… It portrays the dessert, as it is, hard and unrelenting, and even last month a lady disappeared in it somewhere, the love, bringing to mind the film belinda, of a girl who could not speak, like leonora, but gradually does learn. The family who is interwoven, the shelbys, and how this woman has to make a life for herself and her children,three sons, then loses them all, and her husband one by one, but still manages to keep going, thru sheer grit and backbone and such strong determination., poor, but proud would I call her. The end where we lose Tom, took me awhile to understand, in fact I had to put the book down, and try to remember part of toms story in it, then I did remember from the beginning why tom and james had to leave shelby family and take off to make money for tom to pay a woman who was blackmailing him, with due cause, and it being her husband at the end who killed tom, and I also thought James… Ghan comes in and out, and I did think Leonora would remember him, and tell him so, but I think she was his angel when he took typhoid and nearly died, and fed him and kept him going until the end. The people who adopted leonora their story only came out at the end, and it too could have a book written about just that family …. everyone who reads it can understand that it is a story of sheer grit, and what keeps australians going in times of hardship and drought, and how america has such big money and is so different, but in the end Alex the husband realises that Leonora has changed being back on her land as she called it, and wants to try and bring about a change in their life… I could not to start with work out where James and Leonora had gone, then realised it was to the land that the stepfather had given leonora when his wife died, the land of one thousand acres somewhere in n.s.w. wonderfully written comes to life when reading……
Here is a bit from Harmony Vernas Bio :
Throughout her twenty‑year career in communications, Harmony Verna has worked with all media facets: radio, television, magazines, newspapers, public relations, advertising and marketing. As a freelance writer, she has written scripts for the Food Network and articles for Modern Bride Magazine, Connecticut Woman Magazine and more. Daughter of Australia was a final round selection for the James Jones First Novel Contest. Verna lives in Newtown, Connecticut, with her husband and their three young boys.
🙂 I would have thought she lived here in Australia as well the way she descibed the land and everything that filled it .
I’ve just finished reading Daughter Of Australia, a debut novel by Harmony Verna.
This book had me hooked from the first page. With a little girl left abandoned in the harsh conditions of desert Western Australia, my heart was immediately drawn to this character. She becomes one of the main characters in this story, later named Leonora after the town she is taken to by Ghan, a man with vulnerability, tragedy and kindness. His role continues on throughout the story, and ties in beautifully toward the end.
Another character, James, befriends Leonora when she is sent to an orphanage, and their bond is strong from the get go.
Both are sent to different parts of the world to experience life with new families but years later, they are reunited in trying circumstances.
The descriptions of landscapes and characters are written so well, and the story travels over the years comfortably.
I found myself thinking of the characters when I couldn’t read the book throughout various parts of the day, and finished it within a few days.
I love the cover of the book too.
I’d definitely recommend this book as it is a beautiful Australian story that captures your attention and emotions long after the last page has been read.
I love any chance to read an Australian novel, this book was exceptional so much so that I found it hard to put down. I love the characters and found the book very well written. From the West Australian desert where a young girl is abandoned under a tree, the story takes you on a journey that is moving, powerful and emotional. The great characters of Leonora, James and Ghan are skilfully written. A book highly recommended.