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!
Not about me but after my father kicked me out i heard he moved a 15yr old in
I had sworn to never go back but i had to return to area on and off to figure it out
Sometimes truth is better not known……
The in-laws family’s wacky traditional game of strip Christmas MONOPOLY and how they think all I wear is “Nanna” daggy underwear.
When I was at uni, I was once sitting in a meeting listening to someone complain about that “rad fem, blonde tipped, lefty lesbian witch” – and suddenly realised it was me he was talking about! Now, anyone who knows me will tell you I’m not all that radical, I’ve never been even vaguely blonde, I’m not lefty, and I’m not lesbian. But because so many people knew me by name (I edited the uni newspaper) but didn’t actually know me, even by sight, all of those rumors took very solid root.
To be honest though, I didn’t try that hard to squash them. They were so out there I wasn’t at all concerned that it would bother anyone who actually knew me. And you know what set him off? One bar night the newspaper photographer had taken a series of leering photos of drunk girls, often being partially undressed by (I hope) their boyfriends, or simply accidentally exposing themselves in their drunken state. I refused to publish the photos, as I believed it would simply humiliate and embarrass the girls. The photographer and his boy pals took great offence. And when I refused to change my mind, the rumors started…
So, yeah, a rumor almost impossible to squash as it was fuelled by my OUTRAGEOUS decision not to humiliate other young women.
The hardest rumour I ever had to deal with was someone going around saying I sent an awful Chain letter around. I even received the letter myself and threw it in the bin with disgust as it wasn’t very nice at all. To have your friends turning their backs on you and wondering why my neighbours were ignoring me was the utmost cruelty. It wasn’t till I actually moved that I found out another friend was the one that sent the chain letters around as a joke but when confronted about how horrible it was and who would do such a thing…..she gave my name.
She never did tell anyone it was her so those people still believe that rumour is true of me.
Rumours are exactly that they should stay locked away – but some make you wander what you should do.. Do you tell your friend her husband has been seen on pof or ignore it.. I chose to ignore it after she posted her 20 year anniversary post and figured it was a rumour and thats it ;D None of my business.
Rumours can ruin relationships and friendships one I wasnt willing to be in the middle of.
The biggest rumour we have ever had to squash was when one of my daughters friends told everyone my girl put our cat in the microwave my girl was tormented relentlessly over its and even now 2 years on it is still mentioned it is awful how someone else’s lies can make life so Hard for others