Book Club: Where The Murray River Runs

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Author: Darry Fraser
ISBN: 9781489248862
RRP: $29.99
Publisher: Harlequin
Copy: Courtesy of the Publisher

The silly season came and slapped me in the face, I am so far behind on EVERYTHING that there is just no way I am going to be able to get through all the December books in time to get readers feedback links. I am 2 days out from my holiday with no packing and no cleaning but now wrapping completed.

So, I have decided the best way to tackle the holiday season book club reads is to get a post up for readers to leave their feedback on and I will read and review separately. It helps ease the pressure on me and that is what I am in dire need of right now.

Darry Fraser is an Australian author who is new to me, but I look forward to changing that. A quick look at the Goodreads page for Where The Murray River Runs shows that so far the book has been pretty well received.

A couple of years ago, if you had asked, I would have told you that historical fiction isn’t really my thing. Ask me now and the answer is a little different, but it’s an answer I need to stop and think about.Historical fiction is still not a go-to for me but I have read some great historical novels over the last couple of years and I do find it quite fascinating to learn a little more history, especially if it’s about places that I know.

Where The Murray River Runs begins in Bendigo in 1890 with lovers Ard and Linley, a pair who have known one another always and could be together if Linley hadn’t just discovered the child Ard fathered to someone else.

In a cruel twist of fate Linley finds herself guardian to Ard’s baby and having to protect the child from a greedy violent man.

Ard has set out to carve a new path for himself since his hopes for a future with Linley are dashed but learning she is in danger sends him dashing to her aid.

This is an historical tale of greed, honour and love set along the banks of the Murray.

I am really looking forward to reading this one, and sharing my views in a separate review. I am also looking forward to hearing what our readers think.

You can follow Darry Fraser on Facebook, Twitter and her Website.

Thanks to Harlequin 20 of our Beauty and Lace club members will be reading and reviewing Where The Murray River Runs so please be aware there may be spoilers in the comments below.

Where The Murray River Runs is available now through Harlequin, Booktopia, Angus & Robertson Bookworld and where all good books are sold.

18 thoughts on “Book Club: Where The Murray River Runs

  1. Where the Murray River Runs! I started this book on the way for a holiday and didnt quite get to finish it. But on my return i picked up where i left off quite easily!

    Firstly I loved the cover, living near the Murray its an accurate image! I was sceptical about this book to begin with, i thought it wouldnt live up to an Australian Histroical novel but I did enjoy it. The idea of a refuge home like that in the 1890s was a novel idea to me and kept the book together.

    I enjoyed the characters especially the villian, he was very descriptive and imaginable to me. I cant quite put my finger on it but there was something missing throughout, something grittier or perhaps thats my perception and expectation of the book.

    On the whole I enjoyed it a good weekend novel!

  2. Thank you Beauty and Lace book club and Harlequin books for the opportunity to read and review Where the Murray River Runs by Darry Fraser.

    Australian historical romance is a genre that I have only become aware of in the last 2 years, through Beauty and Lace book club, and their introducing me to a number of wonderful Australian women authors. Darry Fraser now joins the group of new authors that I have been exposed to and thoroughly enjoy.

    The book is set in the 1890’s in Bendigo and Echuca with the main characters being Linley Seymour, and her perfect soulmate Ard O’Rouke. Linley and Ard have known each other since childhood and Linley has always assumed and hoped they would end up together. Ard wants to be with Linley too, but not until he has made something of himself and can support a wife, and so he makes the decision to go to Renmark to where his parents live to try to make some money.

    Linley is shattered by his decision, and even more shattered when a local girl Mary dies, leaving her guardian to her new born babe, fathered by Ard O’Rouke.

    Linley is furious with Ard, although she is not sure if he knows about the babe. However, she is determined to honour her commitment to Mary to protect the baby, particularly from Gareth Wilkin, the man who married Mary despite her being pregnant in order to get his hands on her inheritance.

    Gareth has assumed that, as her husband, Mary’s property automatically became his property, but times are a changing, the suffragette movement is gaining ground, women in Adelaide have been given the right to vote, and property laws have changed. Prior to her death Mary made a will, giving guardianship of the babe to come to Linley and leaving her money in trust for the baby’s support.

    Gareth is furious, and as a man given to violence, prepared to take any steps to regain the child and and the inheritance that in his twisted mind he sees as his.

    Meanwhile Linley becomes involved in the work of her aunt CeeCee and her aunt’s partner James Anderson, providing support to women and children who have been victims of domestic violence and helping them to restart their lives. While at the same time dealing with her emotions about raising Ard’s child to another woman.

    With Linley and the baby in danger, Ard races to protect them, and as all the characters congregate in the river town of Echuca, the book races towards its violent and murderous climax.

    Although it took me a little while to get into the book (surprisingly one of the difficulties I had was that with my poor eyesight I kept reading Ard as And which I found very confusing!), once I did I was enthralled and couldn’t put it down.

    Fraser develops her characters well, I don’t think anyone could read this book and come aware with a shred of compassion for Gareth Wilkins, one of the most loathsome characters I have come across in a book. She also deals well with the changing mores of late Victorian society in Australia and the changing place of women.

    This is the first book of this genre that I have read that has tackled the subject of domestic violence in the period so openly and the difficulties that women faced at a time when the courts were most likely to return battered women and children to the men who perpetrated the injuries.

    I loved the fact that in amongst the reality of the violence, there were moments of almost comedy (the cauliflower in the pram being a highlight).

    I would highly recommend this book and am looking forward to reading more of Darry Fraser’s work.

  3. I love reading Historical Fiction, especially Australian. Darry Fraser has written a wonderful book, “Where the Murray River Runs”
    The book is set in Bendigo and Echuca, an area I spend many holidays in the 1950s. This made it very real to me.
    The story in centred on Linley Seymour and her relationship with Ard O’Rourke. It explores the social mores’ of the times, 1890″s, the depression and lives of working class people. Darry did an excellent job of portraying the laconic Australian bushman, a man of few words, slow to make decisions and then steadfast in executing them.
    The book is much more than an Historical novel. The suffragette movement is close to Linley and her Aunt’s hearts and they are active in supporting the movement. Lack of rights for women and the problem of being a man’s chattel are explored.
    The authors detailed knowledge of social history made this book more enjoyable. It was a time of few possessions. I think this was shown in how treasured Ard’s mothers kitchen table was.
    How James and CeeCee funded their work, was somewhat a mystery. I would have liked more details on this. I also wanted to know if CeeCee recovered. Perhaps there will be a sequel. I would reccoment this book to everyone

  4. I’m a fan of novels whose characters are strong women who don’t fit the mould. In “Where the Murray River Runs” Darry Fraser gives us two such women: Linley who is the main character, a young single woman bringing up a man she loves’ child and CeeCee her aunt, a woman who does much to help women who have been the victims of domestic violence
    This is a novel set in country Victoria in the late 1800’s: a very different time to the present
    A story of the love between a man and a woman and a woman and a child. It is slow to start with, but the pace quickens until the ending. You won’t want to put this one down
    Thanks to Harlequin and Beauty and Lace for giving me the opportunity to review this book

  5. I was drawn to the story on the Murray, being such an important part of Australia although I do not know Bendigo at all. The heartstrings are certainly pulled on this tale. It took me a while to feel for the characters, historical dramas being a bit of a different read for me, but that is why it is great in a book club to see something new that takes your fancy as I really enjoyed this different book. Very much on the building of the respective characters you do understand and appreciate the difficult time and the difficult circumstances in the late 1800s and what that would mean. The drama captures you and it is made real by the clever use of descriptive language so you can almost smell the bad smells and the blood and feel the heat… 4 Stars.

  6. I found Where the Murray River Runs quite difficult to get into and it was slow going until that happened. Once I got into the story, I was wanting to put the book down until I got to the end. The story was well written, and alternated perspectives between many of the featured characters.

    This book was set in the 1890s. The way of life described in the book is so very different to what we will ever experience in our lifetimes. The main character Linley has been brought up by her Aunt Cee Cee and James, and together they do dangerous, frowned upon work taking women and young children into refuges. Their work must remain in secret as much as possible, but often men come after them, and during the book danger chases them closely.

    Ard is Linley’s true love, but she believes he betrayed her and to make it complicated she is the guardian of his son born out of wedlock. This makes for an interesting story line as Ard attempts to redeem himself to Linley, also his true love.

    Without giving away too much I will say the ending is mostly happy, yet a little bit sad as well. I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it particularly if you enjoy books from older eras.

  7. Ard O’Rourke and Linley Seymour were meant to be together. Or so Linley thought, until she found out he fathered a child with another woman.

    Linley and her aunt CeeCee run a women’s refuge, where they take in battered women and their children. But Linley unexpectedly finds herself the guardian of a child – Ard’s child, whose mother died in childbirth.

    However, Linley, CeeCee and the child are not safe – a man, hellbent on taking “his” child back leaves a trail of destruction as he searches for the women. So Ard sets out to right his wrongs, and keep them all safe.

    Holy moly, this book was amazing! It took a bit for me to get into it, but once I did, I could barely put it down. It is a very true representation of Victoria in the 1890s, and as I read, I could truly see what the setting looked like, even what the characters looked like! I felt like I had been transported into the 1890s.

    All of the characters are extremely well written. I don’t have a sense of smell, and never have, yet I found myself able to smell what Gareth Wilkin smelled like. It was not pleasant! But the descriptive detail of each character allowed me to see, and smell, exactly what they were like. It really allowed me to build a connection with each of the characters.

    Usually, when a book doesn’t have what I call a complete ending, I get a bit frustrated. But this book finished exactly where it should have. Even though I was hanging out for a bit more (Did an unwell character fully recover? Are any new children brought into the world?), the ending still felt perfectly right. I love that we are left with a bit of wonder about what happened next.

    I’m looking forward to reading more of Darry’s books!

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